Opening Panel Round

Copyright © 2012 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

PETER SAGAL, HOST:

We want to remind everyone they can join us here most weeks at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago. For tickets and more information, you can go to wbez.org, or you can find a link at our website, waitwait.npr.org.

Right now, panel, time for you to answer some questions about this week's news. Paula, a new report analyzing the language of Congress members - members of Congress that is - finds they speak more and more like what?

PAULA POUNDSTONE: Middle schoolers.

SAGAL: Yes, exactly right, teenagers

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

(APPLAUSE)

SAGAL: The Sunlight Foundation, which sounds like more fun than it is, has found that members of Congress are using shorter sentences and shorter words than they used to, lowering the grade level of their speech patterns. Asked if it's true that Congress has been dumbing down the way it speaks, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said "Duh."

(LAUGHTER)

LUKE BURBANK: I think it was L-O-L.

(LAUGHTER)

BURBANK: And we all know it.

SAGAL: Tots.

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Tots, said Steny Hoyer.

P.J. O'ROURKE: So, did all the legislation have a little question mark at the end?

SAGAL: Yeah.

O'ROURKE: So it's the agriculture bill?

SAGAL: In any event, people expect the trend will continue. Congress will get dumber and dumber in their verbal discourse. House Speaker John Boehner said "that's it; I'm changing my name before it's too late."

(LAUGHTER)

SAGAL: Of course, by making that joke I've proved it already is.

O'ROURKE: Too late.

POUNDSTONE: The part that's hard to figure out about this story is why.

BURBANK: Well, part of it was the new rule that all statements have to be 140 characters or less.

SAGAL: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2012 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.