>“The throwaway-Kleenex TV programs and magazines, the junk thought, the affirmations of the unbelievable, the garish music, the suffocating ignorance, the language unrooted in lived human experience — this is the muck we swim in, and even though we despise it, some of it sticks.“

One could add – the pride in unenlightenment.

I thought I’d seen it all, until the “Today” show on NBC on New Year’s Day.

Here are 3 mature, educated and urbane media professionals pretending that they can’t properly pronounce a French word for fear of being accused of elitism by Middle America.

The word was “bourguignon”, as in Beef Bourguignon – the recipe being cooked by the studio chef – and there they were – Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker – joking at each other’s attempts at ignorance.

OF COURSE they know how the word’s pronounced.

They’re people who eat in good restaurants, who have travelled and – perhaps – even had a good education.

If they’d been taking the educational role of their jobs as journalists seriously, they’d have said something like:
“You could actually call it Beef Burgundy – “Burgundy”‘s the English name for the Bourgogne region of France where the wine used in the dish comes from and Bourguignon is the adjective”

But no – just ham it up and act like you’re a fucking rube.

It’s not that they SHOULD know better – they DO know better.

That’s what really pisses me off….