Like nails on a chalkboard

After seeing Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, and other stellar speakers at the GOP convention earlier this week, last night's presidential nomination acceptance speech by John McCain was something of a letdown.

Fortunately, what he lacks in charisma is more than made up by his integrity and leadership abilities.

Nevertheless, there was one point in his speech that really grated on the nerves of this genealogist:

"We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential, from the boy whose DESCENDANTS arrived on the 'Mayflower' to the Latina daughter of migrant workers."

With all the money I'm sure the McCain campaign pays their speech writers, editors, vetters, media consultants, and handlers, I find it hard to believe that no one over there knows the definition of "descendants." For their edification:

descendants - (n) one's posterity, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.

Any boy who had descendants on the Mayflower would have to be tremendously old, even older than John McCain's 96-year-old mother Roberta, and could hardly be described as a boy in the first place.

I'm 99% certain the word they were looking for (or, should have been) is

ancestors - (n) one's forebears, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.

Maybe, the McCain campaign would like to hire a certain genealogical consultant to vet any future speeches.

Know your genealogy, ye socks!