# Marthter! From what abominable, blathphemouth, necromantic thourthe cometh "Igor English"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 16, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556 "2013-02-16T23:37:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/1 "2013-02-16T23:37:23Z")
We’re all familiar with it – it’s a kindasorta British English as used by Bobby “Boris” Pickett in [“The Monster Mash,”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFCQ2bfmHw) sometimes with lisping added, especially in the [Discworld Igor](http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Igor) version.
[The Igor](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheIgor) comes mainly from two early Universal Frankenstein movies: Fritz, the hunchbacked lab assistant in [_Frankenstein;_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film)) and Igor, the broken-necked grave-roppber in [_Son of Frankenstein._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Of_Frankenstein) But neither of them talks like that; neither does Ygor in [_Young Frankenstein._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Frankenstein) I’m thinking the voice was already an established trope when Pickett did it back in the '50s, but where did he get it from?
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/2 "2013-02-16T23:52:12Z")
Charles Laughton, the [Hunchback of Notre Dame.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031455/?ref_=sr_3)
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2013, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/3 "2013-02-17T02:14:32Z")
Another example is the speech of the one-eyed hunchbacked hangman in _Blazing Saddles._
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/4 "2013-02-17T02:25:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> We’re all familiar with it – it’s a kindasorta British English as used by Bobby “Boris” Pickett in [“The Monster Mash,”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFCQ2bfmHw) sometimes with lisping added, especially in the [Discworld Igor](http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Igor) version.
>
> [The Igor](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheIgor) comes mainly from two early Universal Frankenstein movies: Fritz, the hunchbacked lab assistant in [_Frankenstein;_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film)) and Igor, the broken-necked grave-roppber in [_Son of Frankenstein._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Of_Frankenstein) But neither of them talks like that; neither does Ygor in [_Young Frankenstein._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Frankenstein) I’m thinking the voice was already an established trope when Pickett did it back in the '50s, but where did he get it from?
Try Boris Karloff.
Whenever I read a Pratchett Igor out loud, that’s the voice I use.
I recall watching Johnny Carson once riffing with a guest about Karloff’s voice, and he said Boris would have made a great waiter at an Italian restaurant. _“Would you like thome ahnti- PAHTH-to?”_
Probably sounded funnier to me than reading it looked to you.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/5 "2013-02-17T19:57:32Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> Try Boris Karloff.
Well, the “Igor English” trope-voice is not quote how Karloff talks as Ygor in _Son of Frankenstein_ – he sounds more Early-Hollywood-East-Euro than Brit. Even though [Karloff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Karloff) **was** British.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/6 "2013-02-17T20:10:46Z")
Except that Ygor was played by Bela Lugosi in _Son of Frankenstein_. Karloff played the monster; IIRC, he spoke like he had in **Bride** – haltingly.
Karloff did use the more cultured accent in **The Body Snatcher** , but with not lisp.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/marthter-from-what-abominable-blathphemouth-necromantic-thourthe-cometh-igor-english/650556/7 "2013-02-17T21:52:55Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Except that Ygor was played by Bela Lugosi in _Son of Frankenstein_. Karloff played the monster; IIRC, he spoke like he had in **Bride** – haltingly.
>
> Karloff did use the more cultured accent in **The Body Snatcher** , but with not lisp.
Bobby Pickett is certainly doing a Boris Karloff impression.
I’m fairly sure that Ethilrist is right about the “lisping hunchback” connection being Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo (via countless comedy impressions).
I don’t know that the two are necessarily connected, though. Hunchbacks and lisping, yes – Boris Karloff voice, not so much.