unknown unknowns

[rone]

Thanks to the talented Penny Hill: Rummy wins the coveted Foot in Mouth award for his soon-to-be-classic 'unknown unknowns' speech.

I still find it hard to believe there's an electrical appliance maker named SMEG.

Comments

It gets better

[pdcawley.livejournal.com]

The story goes that they reached the press conference stage of launching a product to be called the Smeg MA. Apparently the giggles from the journos gave them a hint that something might be amiss.

[lusercop.livejournal.com]

It's slightly silly, actually, as I think the unknown unknowns speech is actually amongst the more sensible things that Rumsfeld has said ("the more you learn the more you realise you don't know" kind of thing), and I'm not sure I can see a better way to express what he was trying to say. Ahhhhhhhhhnuhld's comment about gay marriages between a man and a woman, on the other hand...

[ex-askesis860.livejournal.com]

What boggles me is that they didn't even quote the capper to that speech: "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

I also don't think Rumsfeld is a bumbler, or that his speeches are mangled in any way. What they have is a dazzling emptiness. I'm not sure what the "unknown unknowns" speech should be called, but it's not inept.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

SMEG makes very attractive refrigerators, actually. They come in many pretty colors.

It

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

could only happen in "LODNON."

[eviltofu.livejournal.com]

This is not a Red Dwarf (http://www.reddwarf.co.uk/) reference right?