George W. Bush is known for his gaffes. Photo/ Reuters
George W. Bush is known for his gaffes. Photo/ Reuters
KEY POINTS:
How do you keep a leader as verbally gaffe-prone as United States President George W. Bush from making even more slips of the tongue?
When Bush addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday, the White House inadvertently showed exactly how - with a phonetic pronunciation guide on theteleprompter to get him past troublesome names of countries and world leaders.
The White House was left scrambling to explain after a marked-up draft of Bush's speech popped up briefly on the UN website as he delivered his remarks, giving a rare glimpse of the special guidance he gets for major addresses.
It included phonetic spellings for French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sar-KO-zee), a friend, and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe (moo-GAH-bee), a target of US human rights criticism. Pronunciations were also provided for Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania and Harare.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the draft, labelled the 20th version and complete with typos and speechwriters' cellphone numbers, had been turned over in advance to help UN interpreters who must simultaneously translate leaders' speeches into several languages.
Bush's text was loaded onto a teleprompter to appear on screens in front of the podium as he spoke.
"There was an error made," Perino said. "I don't know how the draft of the speech that was not final was posted, but it was and it was taken back. Anyone giving a major speech or delivering a broadcast, like on the morning and nightly network news, has phonetics for cues just for the possibility they're needed."
Bush is no stranger to the occasional faux pas, and often jokes about his habit of mangling the English language.
One of his highest-profile gaffes came in May when, at a welcoming ceremony for the Queen, he nearly placed her in the 18th century.
At a speech during the Apec summit in Sydney this month, Bush confused the organisation with Opec and spoke of Austrian troops in Iraq when he meant to say Australian.
