You are right: diction among actors, and singers, too, is highly variable. I
was recently admiring Frank Sinatra's performance of Cole Porter's "Anything
Goes," on the album Songs for Swinging Lovers, because he enunciates every
word superbly (where other singers rush or slur them) without losing any
rhythm.
Mark
On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 2:04 PM, jacquesdebierue
<jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com>wrote:
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "Brian Thornton"
> <bthorntonwriter@...> wrote:
> >
> > I could not disagree more on the part about watching Shakespeare with
> > subtitles.
> >
>
> But some people simply don't understand what is being said... they
> can't help it. Or somebody might understand, say, Gielgud but not some
> other actor playing the same part.
>
> And getting back to our subject matter, I am fascinated by the
> enormous homegrown vocabulary of Australian English. A few years ago I
> bought myself a big dictionary with thousands upon thousands of words
> and meanings I couldn't possibly have guessed. It has helped me with
> Australian novels.
>
> But while reading stuff that is English, there is something else that
> can put one off, namely, the style. Not long ago I reread Josephine
> Tey's The Man in the Queue (1929), her first mystery, and I found
> myself slightly vexed by the prolixity. Very interesting story, in
> fact more so than I remembered, but at times the telling vexed me.
> There are also some blatantly racist remarks, common in that era. I
> think that this novel could be updated and made into an excellent
> contemporary noir movie. It has the right bones.
>
> Best,
>
> mrt
>
>
>
-- Mark R. Harris 2122 W. Russet Court #8 Appleton WI 54914 (920) 470-9855 brokerharris@gmail.com[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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