To my mind, annoying is another one of those words. Maybe it's the OY part but annoying conjures up both the sound and the vision of a repeatedly irritating thing or person -- perhaps a person like Mikie Sherrill, for example.
To get back to the sound of the matter, Sherrill's voice is annoying. Its singsongy cadence falls somewhere between a quarrelsome little girl and the know-it-all Karen down the street who minds everybody's business but her own. Between Sherrill and her gal pal Spanberger in Virginia, one longs for the days of a sonorous voiced woman leader like Margaret Thatcher who sounded as authoritative as she actually was.
Add to all of this the fact that Sherrill lacks gravitas and you may begin to understand why she sometimes seems to be devoid of any sense of reality. Honestly, I've often wondered if this woman's feet ever touch the ground. Oh, I get it. She was a helicopter pilot! Did you know she was a helicopter pilot?! Maybe that's why she's not only ungrounded but apparently unable to hear us as well.
By comparison with our last woman governor, the well-bred Christie Todd Whitman, Sherrill often seems to be in a state of self-construct, sort of making it up as she goes along. In contrast, Whitman conveyed such a comforting sense of well-mannered presence that she even managed to appear gubernatorial in jeans. She inhabited the role with the same confidence that led her to be an accomplished equestrian -- though she never felt the need to endlessly remind us of this.
To be sure, such considerations are more than a matter of mere deportment and they apply equally as well to men as to women. The point is that you should present as authentic and credible, though nonetheless aware of your role and presumed stature. Think Governor Tom Kean. It's a delicate balance -- one that we're not sure Sherrill has been able to achieve.
Too often she comes across as a poseur. Which brings us back to words and their meanings. This one is appropriately French. Originating among courtesans in the late 19th century, it implies insincerity, artificiality, and a lack of authenticity. Bingo!
