Campbell adds acute accent mark to campaign signs; Bauer responds with umlaut

Below: Political signs tainted
by questionable symbols
Violation of time-honored language rules upsets some

B & P News - Columbia

In a new brand of political gamesmanship, Lt. Governor-candidate Mike Campbell this week added an acute accent mark to his Campbell’s Soup-style campaign signs. Lt. Governor Andre Bauer responded with his own new diacritical mark -- a prominent umlaut.

“This is clearly a case of accent-mark envy,” said Bauer in a telephone interview with B & P News. “We saw this last election when Leventis put a tilde over his N. It wasn’t even pronounceable.”

Campbell responded to the claim of diacritic envy by saying, "Is not," and then offering, "He started it."

While the exchange between the Bauer and Campbell camps seems to have stalemated for now, some people -- including Governor Mark Sanford -- worry that political candidates are using too much discretion with their signs.

“What is up with the ‘V’ in Lovelace? It’s a weird blue shape, like maybe a slice of pizza," noted Sanford. "He’s a doctor -- what if he goes to administer an IV and he inserts an ‘I-blue pizza’ instead? Sounds like malpractice to me.”

Some South Carolina voters are also wary of the trend, and prefer candidates who opt for more traditional signs.

"I've always liked Jakie Knotts 'cause he sticks with plain ol' letters," said Lexington resident Duke Murray. "Not all them fancy vowels and whatnots."

Educators agree that the signs could send the wrong message, especially to our schoolchildren.

“I’ve always worried about politicians taking our liberty,” said Dreher High School English teacher Jessamine Flowers. “But now, they’re taking liberties with the language I love to teach.”