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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
Hyla (in ‘overuse of acronym’ thread) made the interesting comment:
Perhaps this stems from the fact the English has so many different pronunciations of letters, based on what they're next to, combined with, etc
So here’s your first challenge of the millynumb, peeps!
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine: how many combinations of letters are there in (more-or-less) standard English that can make the “sh” sound?
You have 7 days from now, with suitable prizes awarded according to complete whim…
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Shall we send our responses privately, mav?
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
"She sells seashells down by the sea shore" was taught to us in Elocution Class way back in the 1930s and 40s to improve our diction. SHucks, just call up SOED CD and there's a hundred of them.  BTW is it just me or has diction totally dropped out of the skills required for singers? I rarely understand lyrics these days but any old recording by Bing, Dinah Shoe, any movie with Doris Day or Kathryn Grayon, Deanna Durbin and you can understand every word. It adds to the enjoyment to know what the singer is singing about, doncha think? wow
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Wow proclaims: and you can understand every word. It adds to the enjoyment to know what the singer is singing about, doncha think?You ever had to listen to Rap? Sometimes not understanding what they're saying is the only way of enjoying "music"! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>I rarely understand lyrics these days but any old recording ... Now you are showing your age  . Isn't that a fundamental difference between any music pre-1960 and post-1960. I did happen to notice that when they did all those "best of the century" lists in 1999/2000, nearly all the songs which got to the top of the UK lists had intelligible lyrics Imagine(John Lennon), Bohemian Rhapsody(Queen), Angels(Robbie Williams) etc, mondegreens notwithstanding.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
You ever had to listen to Rap? asks Capital Kiwi.
Sure. But that's not music that's rhythmn.
wow
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
...all those "best of the century" lists in 1999/2000, nearly all the songs which got to the top of the UK lists had intelligible lyrics... Ahaaaaa, you see, there are a few musicians around. Indeed many singers today are understandable but I've found them mostly in musical theater (theatre for the Brits) where it is important to the flow of the play for the audience/listeners to be able to understand the lyrics. Come on, y'all, don't be shy, lemme have it! wow
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Well, how about Opera? I started going to the English National Opera because they always sing English translations of the Operas and found thatnI still couldn't understand the lyrics, added to which the sounds and rhythms were all wrong. I have gone back to listening to opera in the language in which it was written and making sure that I know the story line before I go in to the theatre (theater for wow ) It is the musical sound that is so wonderful - the lyrics are fairly crappy anyway, for the most part!
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Well, how about Opera? ... still couldn't understand the lyrics,
Exactly what I mean ... new singers in all fields appear to give little or no attention to thier diction.
Old records of Caruso singing in Italian are very understandable to Italian speakers ... and the Great Ones (ie Three Tenors) of today have great diction in their native languages and they give a damned good try in English It may be accented English but it is decipherable. HOWEVER, younger singers in all areas just don't seem to care whether or not the lyric is understandable.
Since it's unlikely this rant will cause any change, I think it would be nice to have lyrics written inside the paper flyer they put in CDs.
Many years ago, she gummed, music counters in stores or in music stores you could buy booklets with the lyrics of all the new songs (and some oldies thrown in to fill out the pages) for a dime. Probably be a dollar now. Why don't they do it anymore, she ruminated.
[emoticon of grey haired old lady wearing glasses peering wistfully at the reader.]
wow
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
wow: younger singers in all areas just don't seem to care whether or not the lyric is understandable...
to who??!!
common that's not true of all modern music, besides half the fun of rap, hip-hop, Sprechgesang or whatever you want to call it is deciphering the lyrics. I know, CK doesn't want to understand (most) 'rap' but that's 'cause he doesn't know Mos Def or Pharcyde, .. yet! I've always enjoyed MC Solar although my French is not advanced enough to cope with his recitations, .. mind you his album has the lyrics included.
I'll toddle off to my CHalet now, SCHorl in hand, saying SCHwa on my sofa.(a desperate attempt to stick to the subject of the thead)
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