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Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Coventry man killed in crash at I-77 ramp
Browns' roster nearly devoid of consistent players
NFL star Chris Spielman's wife loses cancer battle
College student mistaken for deer, shot to death
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Night Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment …
Akron Zips:
Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
Kent State Sports:
Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
Headed For Disaster
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (69) The Brookings Institute Study on "Bending the Curve" – Four General Strategies
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
George is looking for a Thanksgiving buffet in Akron.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
By Julia Keller
Chicago Tribune
Published on Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
CHICAGO: Richard Nixon had ''My fellow Americans.'' George W. Bush has ''Folks.'' Increasingly, Barack Obama is revealing the latest linguistic fingerprint of leadership: ''Look.''
In Monday's press conference to announce his national security team, Obama slipped in at least two ''looks'' — a colloquialism in which the president-elect regularly indulges. Anyone who listened closely to Obama's sentences during the primaries and general election would not have been surprised. By now, ''look'' is a certified Obamaism, as fundamental a signature of the next president's lexicon as ''Friends, Romans, countrymen'' was to that of Mark Antony.
Asked by a reporter how he could justify appointing Sen. Hillary Clinton to the job of secretary of state, after denigrating her foreign policy credentials when both were vying for the Democratic presidential nomination not too long ago, Obama replied, ''Look — I think this is fun for the press, to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign . . . and you're having fun. And there's nothing wrong with that.''
When the reporter persisted with his point, the president-elect said, ''But look — I think if you look at the statements that Hillary Clinton and I have made outside of the heat of a campaign, we share a view that America has to be kept safe and secure.''
The word ''look'' often introduces what grammarians call an imperative sentence. ''Imperative'' comes from the Latin word for ''command'' — a fitting etymology for a word beloved by a newly minted commander in chief.
Obama's affection for ''look'' — which he sometimes swaps out for ''Understand'' — may date to his days as an instructor at the University of Chicago law school. The word does have a certain professorial — and, some might say, condescending and even belittling — ring to it. The implication: ''Look, buddy, here's why you're all wet.''
In the days ahead, keep an ear cocked for ''look'' at the outset of the new president's sentences. Perhaps a drinking game may emerge: Take a swig each time Obama says the word — although given the shaky state of the economy he is inheriting, the beverage of choice for the ''Look'' game may be water.
Keller is a Chicago Tribune columnist. She can be e-mailed at jikeller@tribune.com.
CHICAGO: Richard Nixon had ''My fellow Americans.'' George W. Bush has ''Folks.'' Increasingly, Barack Obama is revealing the latest linguistic fingerprint of leadership: ''Look.''
Get the full article here.
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