# I'm starting to confuse Corva Coleman and Laxmi Singh on NPR **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765 "2009-06-14T21:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/1 "2009-06-14T21:52:03Z")
I used to pride myself on instantaneous, split-second identification of the radio anchors for NPR’s Top-of-the-Hour news… ‘From NPR news in Washington, this is…’ - Cory Flintoff (nasal, whiny nerd you beat up in 6th grade) - Carl Kassel (gravelly-voiced veteran of the newsbeat) - Corva Coleman (neutral, concerned-but-focused mature woman) and lately, Laxmi Singh. But Laxmi’s and Corva’s voices are starting to sound more similar to me. So similar, in fact, that I’ve made a few unheard-of misidentifications in the past month. This troubles me. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/2 "2009-06-14T22:25:04Z")
> [@IdahoMauleMan](#): > > - Cory Flintoff (nasal, whiny nerd you beat up in 6th grade) This explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/3 "2009-06-14T23:36:38Z")
**ME** chelle Norris (the cheerleader/homecoming queen/bitch who stole your boyfriend even though he wasn’t your boyfriend and never would be but you didn’t care because until SHE came along he was available, if only in your mind) I used to think Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s voice was smarmy, until I was corrected. Her voice is _sensual_. (It is, kinda.) Yeah, Corva and Laxmi sound alike to me too. Until this thread, I thought it was Corba and Lachsmee. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/4 "2009-06-15T00:52:05Z")
Yeah, I’ve been having trouble telling a LOT of the women apart on NPR lately. It’s like they’re all trying to sound like Teri Gross wanna-be’s. I can always recognize Sylvia Poggioli, though…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/5 "2009-06-15T03:39:04Z")
First to mention Diane Rehm! You can not have a reasonable discussion of ANY NPR show/talent without someone complaining about Diane Rehm. It is a law somewhere. The chick that hyphenates her name drives me batty. No, I don’t remember either of them, no NYAH! ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/6 "2009-06-15T15:50:58Z")
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson? I can’t remember the guy who bothers me, but he’s older and sounds like his tongue is swollen. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/7 "2009-06-15T16:05:11Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I used to think Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s voice was smarmy, until I was corrected. Her voice is _sensual_. (It is, kinda.) Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s voice produces a Pavlovian desire in me to eat. And to want to cook, which is not normal for me. I hear her voice and am hungry, immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/8 "2009-06-15T17:18:03Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Lourdes Garcia-Navarro and Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson? > > I can’t remember the guy who bothers me, but he’s older and sounds like his tongue is swollen. Daniel Shore (sp?), maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/9 "2009-06-15T19:07:27Z")
That’s it. I wanted to say Carl Kasell, but I knew that wasn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/10 "2009-06-15T19:36:08Z")
> [@Pazu](#): > > Daniel Shore (sp?), maybe? [Daniel Schorr](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101143) ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/11 "2009-06-15T22:25:05Z")
This is a great thread. My current pet peeve is Ann Taylor. It sounds like she’s sneering through the whole update. “I’m Ann Taylor, [you asshole].” And then she always does this weird lilting intonation of “Dow Jones In-DUS-trial Average.” Every. Single. Time. I like listening to NPR, but the honeyed voices of the female anchors becomes grating. And Daniel Schorr’s marble mouth, but due to his age I always assumed he had some health problems that made him sound like that. I don’t know if that’s actually true though. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/12 "2009-06-15T22:39:34Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > [Daniel Schorr](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101143) He is 92 after all. (On a side note - what is it with him and Andy Rooney and Mike Wallace? Haven’t you guys heard of retirement?) ---
**Author:** ![Pazu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pazu/32/15522_2.png) [@Pazu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pazu)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/13 "2009-06-15T22:43:41Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > [Daniel Schorr](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101143) Thanks for the link! Now I can toss in my own nomination for “annoying NPR voice” without fear of misspelling: Joanne Silberner! A kind of weird slurred and adenoidal delivery, usually on a topic that I’m interested in hearing about. ☹ (Looking at the photo, I find it hard to imagine that voice coming out of that face.) ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/14 "2009-06-15T22:50:58Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > I can’t remember the guy who bothers me, but he’s older and sounds like his tongue is swollen. Would that be Carl Kasell? I get to be the first one to mention the sshhound of hisshh shlipping dentchuresshh, which is required almost as much as complaing about Dianne Rheam’s stroke-impacted speech impediment. I understand that she has a mortgage to pay, but after she had a stroke that damaged her ability to talk, she might have found a different career than _talking on the radio_? Am I the only one who thinks that NPR should have offered her a job on the other side of the microphone? I’m sure that her years of experience would be useful somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/15 "2009-06-16T00:22:38Z")
Funny, they don’t look much alike. [Lakshmi Singh](https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2101212) [Korva Coleman](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4170557) ---
**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/16 "2009-06-16T01:04:29Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > This is a great thread. > > My current pet peeve is Ann Taylor. It sounds like she’s sneering through the whole update. “I’m Ann Taylor, [you asshole].” And then she always does this weird lilting intonation of “Dow Jones In-DUS-trial Average.” Every. Single. Time. I cringe whenever I hear the oncoming chalkboard-scratching of Ann Taylor. But I have a soft spot in my heart for Diane Rheam, stroke and all. I actually like the fact that she measures out her questions and words carefully, due to the stroke. I feel like I’m getting more bang for the buck. And she seems especially economical with her words as a result…not a whole lot of qualifiers, ‘you knows’, filler babble, or anything else. It takes a while to get through her questions but the quality seems reasonably high. Unlike the ‘Talk of the Nation’ hosts, who tend to babble on every now and then. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/17 "2009-06-16T01:36:41Z")
I have only one thing to say- Corva is either Yiddish/Hebrew/or possibly both for “whore”. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/18 "2009-06-16T01:37:02Z")
BMax writes: \> . . . Dianne Rheam’s stroke-impacted speech impediment . . .I understand that \> she has a mortgage to pay, but after she had a stroke that damaged her ability \> to talk, she might have found a different career than talking on the radio?. . . \> NPR should have offered her a job on the other side of the microphone . . . First, you’ve misspelled both of her names. Second, it has nothing to do with a stoke. It’s spasmatic dysphonia. Third, paying off her mortgage (or anything else related to desperately needing money) certainly had nothing to do with it. She was 62 in 1998 when her voice began to be affected. Her (and her husband’s) mortgage was probably paid off at that point and her husband was making enough on his own to pay it off in any case. It was entirely WAMU’s decision to keep her as the host of the show. (WAMU owns the show, not NPR.) I’m not sure I like their decision to keep her myself, but then I don’t get to decide anything in this world, so who cares? There’s no way, I suspect, that she would take any job that didn’t have her speaking on the radio: > **[Diane Rehm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Rehm)** > > Diane Rehm (/ˈriːm/; born Diane Aed; September 21, 1936) is an American journalist and the host of Diane Rehm: On My Mind podcast, produced at WAMU, which is licensed to American University in Washington, D.C.. She also hosts a monthly book club series, Diane Rehm Book Club, at WAMU. Rehm is the former American public radio talk show host of The Diane Rehm Show, which was distributed nationally and internationally by National Public Radio. The show was produced at WAMU. > Rehm had announced her ... ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/19 "2009-06-16T01:48:53Z")
I am totally in love with Kai Ryssdal’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765/20 "2009-06-16T03:09:55Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > it has nothing to do with a stoke. It’s spasmatic dysphonia. You beat me to it, but thanks! I am irritated by the adenoidal voices of the guys who do _Science Friday_ and _This American Life._ Someone on the 'Dope once pointed out that he does the show in the basement of his Mother’s house. She asks, “It’s time for dinner, Dear. Will your little radio friends be staying?” 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-starting-to-confuse-corva-coleman-and-laxmi-singh-on-npr/499765.md?page=2)