I was listening to This American Life this weekend. Bit off-format–they did a bunch of generally brief stories that explored things that had happened over the course of the past week. (And chose the weakest of the bunch to close out the show, but I digress.)
One of the stories explored the Egyptian unrest and discontent, and featured a woman that I think of as NPR’s Official Middle Eastern Translator–she’s their go-to gal for all things Arabic and Hebrew. (Probably Persian, too.) And it’d been a while since I’d heard her, so I’d forgotten how very, very ANGRY she is. About absolutely everything. The universe itself, so far as I can tell, is an affront to her, and so she BITES! OFF! EVERY! WORD! of her translation with a slight growl. The subject is irrelevant; if NPR ever does a story on the special love that Jordanians have for cute fuzzy kittens, she will be there to let us know that the interviewee LOVES! THESE! CUTE! KITTENS!. THEY! ARE! SO! ADORABLE!
I can only imagine that this woman is some sort of a translatory genius, and so her rather peculiar delivery is overlooked…