Jan. 27--While all of us are continuin' to negotiate over reforms to grow jobs and lower taxes, our administration is not waitin' to take action. We are movin' ahead to make government more effective, and provide our taxpayers with major long term savin's . . .
-- Gov. Bruce Rauner during today's State of the State address
By my count, Gov. Rauner used 143 words ending with the -ing syllable during the State of the State speech Wednesday in Springfield, and he dropped the terminal 'g' 89 times. That's a folksiness score of 62 percent, a significant increase of the 51 percent score he achieved last year and the 47 percent mark he hit in his subsequent budget address.
As usual, he often mixed his modalities within a single passage:
I know many of you have been workin' on these issues for years, and I ask for your support. Together, we can finally bring Illinois up to par with the best run states, helpin' make us far more compassionate without dramatically increasing costs, and, in some cases, reducing costs.
Yes, this post ignores substance and goes right to style. But style is important and the suburban-raised, Dartmouth-educated governor's tic, down-home affectation -- or whatever you want to call it -- creates an unnecessary distraction and has the opposite effect of what he intends by making him sound less genuine.
(Illinois Public Radio's Amanda Vinicky last year: Lookin' Into Gov. Rauner's Missing G's)
