Every Monday and Thursday I do consulting work at a Jr High here in town. The Asst Principal, cheese and crackers does he sound angry when he talks! You know all those stereotypes of the angry, staccato speech of Japanese generals/samurai/etc? I always figured that was just an oratory style or stock movie character. This guy, though, talks like that. All. The. TIME.
Whether he is telling us about our failings as educators (that’s his job) or he is congratulating us on a job well done (also his job), he sounds like he is going to pull out a sword and go Crazy 88 on us all at any moment. And it’s not just when he is giving his morning address. Ask him how his weekend was, he will tell you in detail. Ask him if you can leave early to run errands, he will say yes without hesitation. But, boy, will he sound really pissed off while he says it.
It wouldn’t bother me so much if he were actually angry about these things. But he isn’t! He’s actually a very pleasant person and, as far as administrators go, he’s fantastic. He just always sounds so angry! At first I thought it was just some cultural nuance I hadn’t picked up on, but I’ve asked my coworkers about it and they agree that he sounds angry.
I’ve never met anybody else like this. My maternal grandfather is pretty close. But his voice is more just kind of gruff and world-weary, not really angry. Any other dopers know anybody like this guy?
I find many people in many places who always sound a little bit dismissive, impatient, superior or curt. I sometimes think it’s because I’m obsessed with people giving me shit in life, but I’m really not sure.
Jerry Stiller’s character as George’s dad was an exegerated example of ‘bellowing old man’ sydrome’. A big Jewish angle on that one, but there are old guys with bad hearing, and a bit of paranoia who say everything way to loud and way to passionate.
Our Asst Principal isn’t an old man, though. He’s no spring chicken, but he can’t be much above mid 40s. I wonder now if he is hard of hearing, though.
My Darling Marcie tells me that I sound permanently angry all day every day. She’s not the only person I’ve heard this from, either. I am definitely hard of hearing, especially in the left ear.
My SO has hearing damage due to a stroke. I cringe whenever she answers the phone because whoever is on the other line is going to get viciously yelled at because they mumble or talk too fast and should just learn to speak English.
She definitely talks angry all the time. Doesn’t help she’s an ex military officer.
My employees think I am always angry, even if I’m telling them good job or to go home ealy tonight. Not only do they always think I’m yelling, they think I am violent and threatening. The other day I heard a guy telling the other new people “She’ll shank a man!”, indicating me. Huh? Even if I was screaming at the top of my lungs, those weren’t the words coming out of my mouth. I don’t know how they came to that conclusion. Grown men have cringed away from me when I told them to go wash the dishes or scrub out the bread oven. I am confuzzled. I am short skinny 22 year old white girl, by the way. And I’m really, really hard of hearing.
Apparently I sound annoyed much of the time but I’m really not meaning to sound that way. I’ve ticked off many people by accident. Now, whenever I work with new people I warn them right off the bat that I often sound annoyed when I’m really not, just to avoid future problems.
Seriously… It gets ridiculous after a few minutes of dialogue with him. I understand he should be angry or emotional in parts of the movie… But really… Every word from the dressed up Mr. Wayne sounds like “I. AM. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU. EVEN. TO. YOU. GOOD. GUYS… GRRRR.”
It’s pretty funny - he’s a decent guy, but is always curt and harsh-sounding.
We were at a breakfast restaurant. He requested an english muffin but the waitress brought him toast. He asked her to take back the toast and bring an english muffin. She apologizes and begins to do so immediately.
he reads her name-tag
(sarcastic/mean-sounding) “HEY! <Waitress>! You’re doing a GOOD job! THANKS!”
The waitress was mortified, and practically sprinted back to the kitchen. The rest of us (excluding angry-sounding guy) roared with laughter.
We knew he had been sincere in saying that she was doing her job well. But man, it didn’t come out sounding like that.
My German roommate hates this characterization, and absolutely despises the way the German language is depicted in American film. She claims that the word choice, intonations, and cadences that we see in American films of German people seem carefully chosen in order to make the language seem frightening. WWII films are apparently the worst for this. Though I don’t speak the language, I have to say that when she’s on the phone with her parents, the language seems no more angry than English, and she’s a very confrontational person in English.
Can’t say I’ve met any of those perma-angry souls, but I had a boss who sounded very joyfully emphatic, all the time. He sounded a lot like a French Brian Blessed.