"Dress like you are going into a bar in Kansas to drink from the bottle"

Could you humor me and say the title to this post aloud?

Thanks, but you don't have the accent right. Here, say these words first:

savoir-faire
oui
grenouille
Je suis parisien a vie!

Now, say this in the same accent:

"American culture is an adolescent culture... In America, you have to be the common man, be able to make people think you are the common man..."

"...start giving one word or two answers to questions..."

"Go to K-Mart, buy jeans and cowboy boots... Dress like you are going into a bar in Kansas to drink from the bottle..."

Now, you might be wondering why I had you do that. Because the guy who said those things above is French-born, US-based, consultant and "medical anthropologist" Clotaire Rapaille.

He's been contacted by the Kerry campaign to give them advice.

I'm vaguely reminded of this non-Kerry-related piece of advice to peace protesters who want to reach out to mainstream Americans:

"Speak American," she said. "Strip down to the simple, metaphoric Anglo Saxon. Leave out long words, complex explanations, historical analysis or arguments supported by lots of reasons, facts, statistics."

(Via PoliBlog)

Politics · Sun, 03/28/2004 - 15:13 · · Importance: 1