[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 17 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H837]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


         AN UNINTENTIONAL MISPRONUNCIATION OF MY FRIEND'S NAME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Goss). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, this morning I mispronounced the name of my 
friend and colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], in 
a way that sounds like a slur. Let me make this absolutely clear. The 
media and others are reporting this as if it were intentional, and it 
was not.
  I repeat. This was nothing more than the unintentional 
mispronunciation of another person's name that sounded like something 
it was not.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no room in public discourse for such hateful 
language, and I condemn the use of such slurs.
  After I heard about how the story was being covered, I called the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank], and I told him of my 
stumbling over his name, and I apologized for the perception created by 
the press that I would even think of such terms.
  It was not an attack. It was not even a Freudian slip.
  I have worked with the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank] in 
the past. I consider him a friend. I am disappointed that the media and 
others would take this incident and turn it into a firestorm, a 
firestorm. I take strong exception to the airing of the tape and even 
the transcribing of a stumbled word as if it were an intentional 
personal attack.

                              {time}  1510

  I take strong exception to the airing of the tape, and even the 
transcribing of a stumbled word, as if it were an intentional, personal 
attack.
  I take strong exception to the airing of the tape, and even the 
transcribing of a stumbled word, as if it were an intentional, personal 
attack, and I take this exception especially in light of the fact that 
I went to the press who had the tape and explained to them in the best 
humor I could that I had simply mispronounced a name, and did not need 
any psychoanalysis about my subliminals or about my Freudian 
predilections, especially from people who are obviously not trained in 
psychological analysis.
  With all of the issues the new Republican majority are bridging to 
the floor of this House, it is regrettable that a unintentional 
mispronunciation of a name in a way that would be clearly offensive had 
it been intentional should shift the public debate away from issues 
like balancing the budget, cutting taxes, and reforming our failed 
welfare system.
  Can we not get back to real issues? Cannot the press report real 
events?
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to for a moment thank my friend and 
colleague from California, Mr. Bilbray, for allowing me to proceed 
ahead of him in this order. I would like to thank the indulgence of 
this body for allowing me these moments. I would like to thank my 
diligent, fair, responsible friends in the press for 10 years of what I 
believe to have been a good relationship with decent people doing their 
job.
  Mr. Speaker, I have a family. I have raised five children. I spent a 
lifetime telling my children the rules of decent discourse, teaching 
them how to be respectful of other people. We have a long list of words 
we don't use, of names we don't call, of sentiments we don't express. 
We have another long list that comes under the general rule of my 
mother and father's precious teaching about good manners, decent 
discourse, real respect for other people. And to have my five children, 
or anybody else's five children, turn on their TV today and see a 
transcript of a mispronunciation on the air, as if I had no sense of 
decency, cordiality, respect, or even good manners, is unacceptable. It 
is an act in itself that is indecent. It is an act that is unkind, at 
least to myself, hurtful to my children, and clearly indifferent to the 
feelings of my friend, Barney Frank. And, yes, I have a word for that 
act. You will find that word in the singular word to the song ``Cotton-
Eyed Joe.''

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