# Vocal samples thread: how do \*you\* say it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403 "2007-11-22T04:43:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/21 "2007-11-23T01:12:30Z")
Well! Lots of interesting sample activity going on! **NinetyWt** sent me some samples, which I have processed into MP3s. [“Poor”, “pore”, and “pour”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_poor.mp3) [“Marry”, “merry”, and “Mary”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_merry.mp3) [“Don”, “Dawn”, “Aaron”, and “Erin”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_don.mp3) And last, [“The dog went out and about.”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_dog.mp3) And from **Spoons** … [“Poor”, “pore”, and “pour”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_poor_pore_pour.mp3) [“Marry”, “merry”, and “Mary”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_marry_merry_mary.mp3) [“Don”, “Dawn”, “Aaron”, and “Erin”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_don_dawn_aaron_erin.mp3) **Spoons** has some interesting comments. He’s created two versions of each of these. He goes on to explain, > [@](#): > > Now, what I also did was to create an N-file and a C-file for each… > > [B]ut N stands for “Newscast.” This is formal announcing: measured, modulated, and enunciated (but not > over-enunciated). C stands for “Colloquial” or “Casual,” and you can decide which. Anyway, these C-files are, as the name implies, more like what one > would speak and hear in everyday conversation. So here we have: “Poor old Paul pored over the book as Portia poured him some porter.” [N-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_poor_old_paul.mp3); [C-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_poor_old_paul.mp3). “Mary was merry as she married Terry, but then Scary Larry got carried away and chased Barry’s hairy dairy cattle through the ceremony.” [N-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_mary_was_merry.mp3); [C-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_mary_was_merry.mp3). “It was dawn when Don, Dawn, Aaron, and Erin took off, but Erin made an error in navigation.” [N-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_it_was_dawn.mp3); [C-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_it_was_dawn.mp3). “I put on my boots and left the house to talk with a man about a boat.” [N-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_i_put_on_my_boots.mp3); [C-version](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_i_put_on_my_boots.mp3). Lastly, there’s **Fatwater\_Fewl** ’s paragraph:Mary rarely rose at dawn, but did so on the day she was to marry Don in order to pore over details such as whether the weather would be fine or poor for taking pictures, who was to pour the wedding wines and pitchers of beer, and to be sure that her poor, overly merry cousin Aaron, visiting from Erin, would catch the last boat (a converted ketch) from the mainland and so would not arrive until about the time the honeymoon bags were put in the boot. [Spoken by **Fatwater\_Fewl**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/fatwater_fewl_paragraph.mp3). [Spoken by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_paragraph.mp3). **Fatwater\_Fewl** and **Spoons** both have classic storytellers’ voices. And something about the way **Cazzle** pronounces “Don” and “Dawn” just makes me melt. [sub]I have Skype…[/sub] 🙂 **TheLoadedDog** , pronouncing “ceremony” with only three syllables is very different from the way we do it. There are a lot of words like that–“laboratory”, “secretary”–that we’ve made into four syllables with the strong accent on the third (losing the first O in laboratory, in our case), and you’ve weakened that syllable entirely. I wonder how that divergence happened. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/22 "2007-11-23T01:26:54Z")
**Sunspace** , I pronounce both “ceremony” and “laboratory” with four distinct syllables, but the stresses are different to the North American ones, and the vowel in the third syllable is elided down to near nothing at all - there’s still a stop there though. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/23 "2007-11-23T01:28:07Z")
Lah-BOH-ruh-tree …rather than… LAB-rah-TOR-ee ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/24 "2007-11-23T03:39:07Z")
**NinetyWt** ’s rendition of [“Mary was merry as she married Terry, but then Scary Larry got carried away and chased Barry’s hairy dairy cattle through the ceremony”](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_dairy.mp3). ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/25 "2007-11-23T04:10:42Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] **Telperien** , I could listen to you all day. I have broadband. You have a telephone directory? [/QUOTE] _blush_ I could read you some John Donne or Robert Frost (assuming I could find the Frost book) or perhaps a bit of Terry Pratchett or Jane Austen, but I don’t know where the telephone directory is right now. 😃 About the supposed Canadian “aboot”: I once dated a Canadian, and he and his roommates and friends that I met pronounced it more like “aboat” than “aboot.” I’ve sent three more samples to **Sunspace:** Don/Dawn/Aaron/Erin, the wedding crashed by bovines, and **NinetyWt’s** “The dog went out and about.” I love this thread. Hearing the way people sound is fun. **Cazzle’s** accent is especially lovely. ---
**Author:** ![tonedef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@tonedef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonedef)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/26 "2007-11-23T04:16:50Z")
Any Americans wanna try saying “collier” & “caller”? ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/27 "2007-11-23T04:22:57Z")
This is a very interesting thread. I’ve read the posts of many of you before, but it’s the first time I hear your voice. If there’s interest, and if I can find a microphone – I think I have one at my parents’, and I’m going there this week-end – I’d like to record a few of these samples. It would be interesting to include the voice of a non-native English speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/28 "2007-11-23T04:25:54Z")
[QUOTE=Hypnagogic Jerk] This is a very interesting thread. I’ve read the posts of many of you before, but it’s the first time I hear your voice. If there’s interest, and if I can find a microphone – I think I have one at my parents’, and I’m going there this week-end – I’d like to record a few of these samples. It would be interesting to include the voice of a non-native English speaker. [/QUOTE] I’d be interested to hear this. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/29 "2007-11-23T05:11:12Z")
It’s interesting to hear everybody–we have some nice voices here. And it’s great to hear how we pronounce things. **Hypnagogic Jerk** , I’d also be interested in hearing from a non-native-English speaker. And **Sunspace** , I did a couple of versions of **Fatwater Fewl’s** “Mary rarely rose” paragraph. Check your e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/30 "2007-11-23T05:34:08Z")
Great. I’ll record a few samples as soon as I can get my hands on a microphone. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/31 "2007-11-23T05:35:52Z")
I’ve read Fatwater\_Fewl’s paragraph, and have an mp3 that’s 415 kb. If you’re able to host it, I’d be happy to send it to you if you can PM me with the details of how and where. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/32 "2007-11-23T05:54:50Z")
More samples have arrived. Here is a compendium of what we have so far. 🙂 “Poor”, “pore”, and “pour”. [Pronounced by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_ppp.mp3) [Pronounced by **Telperien**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/telperien_ppp.mp3) [Pronounced by **Cazzle**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/cazzle_ppp.mp3) [Pronounced by **NinetyWt**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_poor.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_poor_pore_pour.mp3) “Marry”, “merry”, and “Mary”. [Pronounced by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_mmm.mp3) [Pronounced by **Telperien**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/telperien_mmm.mp3) [Pronounced by **Cazzle**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/cazzle_mmm.mp3) [Pronounced by **NinetyWt**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_merry.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_marry_merry_mary.mp3) “Mary was merry as she married Terry, but then Scary Larry got carried away and chased Barry’s hairy dairy cattle through the ceremony.” [Pronounced by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_dairy.mp3) [Pronounced by **Telperien**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/telperien_dairy.mp3) [Pronounced by **Cazzle**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/cazzle_dairy.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** colloquially](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_mary_was_merry.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** more formally, as for a newscast](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_mary_was_merry.mp3) [Pronounced by **NinetyWt**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_dairy.mp3) “Don”, “Dawn”, “Aaron”, and “Erin”. [Pronounced by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_ddae.mp3) [Pronounced by **Telperien**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/telperien_don.mp3) [Pronounced by **Cazzle**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/cazzle_ddae.mp3) [Pronounced by **NinetyWt**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_don.mp3) “Boot”, “boat”, “about”, and “house”. [Pronounced by **Spoons**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_boot_boat_about_house.mp3) “The dog went out and about.” [Pronounced by **NinetyWt**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/ninetywt_dog.mp3) “Mary rarely rose at dawn, but did so on the day she was to marry Don in order to pore over details such as whether the weather would be fine or poor for taking pictures, who was to pour the wedding wines and pitchers of beer, and to be sure that her poor, overly merry cousin Aaron, visiting from Erin, would catch the last boat (a converted ketch) from the mainland and so would not arrive until about the time the honeymoon bags were put in the boot.”. [Pronounced by **Sunspace**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/sunspace_paragraph.mp3) [Pronounced by **Fatwater\_Fewl**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/fatwater_fewl_paragraph.mp3) [Pronounced by **Bambi Hassenpfeffer**](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/bambih_paragraph.mp3) ( **Bambi** , I must apologise. There’s some kind of weird glitch that cuts off your sample just after ‘ketch’ every time I normalise it and then export it as an MP3.) [Here’s the original](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/Sound_clip_08.wav). [Pronounced by **Spoons** colloquially](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_mary_rarely_rose.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** more formally, as for an audiobook](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_ab_mary_rarely_rose.mp3) [Pronounced by **GorillaMan**](http://www.owainsutton.co.uk/audio/sentence.mp3) “Poor old Paul pored over the book as Portia poured him some porter.” [Pronounced by **Spoons** colloquially](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_poor_old_paul.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** more formally, as for a newscast](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_poor_old_paul.mp3) “It was dawn when Don, Dawn, Aaron, and Erin took off, but Erin made an error in navigation.” [Pronounced by **Spoons** colloquially](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_it_was_dawn.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** more formally, as for a newscast](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_it_was_dawn.mp3) “I put on my boots and left the house to talk with a man about a boat.” [Pronounced by **Spoons** colloquially](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_c_i_put_on_my_boots.mp3) [Pronounced by **Spoons** more formally, as for a newscast](http://www.sunspace.org/audio/spoons_n_i_put_on_my_boots.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/33 "2007-11-23T05:57:10Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] I’ve read Fatwater\_Fewl’s paragraph, and have an mp3 that’s 415 kb. If you’re able to host it, I’d be happy to send it to you if you can PM me with the details of how and where. [/QUOTE] No prob! PM sent. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/34 "2007-11-23T06:02:39Z")
I’d be interested in hearing from non-native speakers of English as well. [QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] **Sunspace** , you sound like a _Sesame Street_ character: 1. I note your location, so I realise that doesn’t make sense. 2. I forget which character it is (I suspect it’s several of the minor parts - so maybe one guy doing them all). 3. Take this as a compliment - I’m a big _Sesame St_ fan. 4. I love your “herry derry cattle”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’ve been told I sound like Kermit the Frog by a number of people. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/35 "2007-11-23T06:03:32Z")
OK, e-mail sent. It’ll be from my Yahoo account. Ought to be there now. ---
**Author:** ![Fatwater\_Fewl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@Fatwater\_Fewl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatwater_Fewl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/36 "2007-11-23T06:46:18Z")
Ah, this is great stuff. I think I’ll try some of the sentences when I get up tomorrow. And I too would like to hear **fishbicycle** and other non-native speakers of English have a go at recording themselves. Also, it would be good to know where each of the speakers grew up and/or first learned English. For me, that’d be a village near the centre of Prince Edward Island. ---
**Author:** ![Fatwater\_Fewl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@Fatwater\_Fewl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fatwater_Fewl)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/37 "2007-11-23T06:51:26Z")
Just had another thought, **Sunspace**. If all these audio-files begin to take up needed space on your server, you could always create an account at [the internet archive](http://www.archive.org/details/audio) and use it to host them. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/38 "2007-11-23T10:21:40Z")
**Bambi** and I sound very similar, even down to the inflection, but I think he made a little more differentiation in the word “poor” than I do. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/39 "2007-11-23T10:32:18Z")
[QUOTE=Fatwater Fewl] Also, it would be good to know where each of the speakers grew up and/or first learned English. For me, that’d be a village near the centre of Prince Edward Island. [/QUOTE] I grew up in Pinellas Park, Florida. My mom was born in Evansville, Indiana (as was I) and left when she was 14 for Anchorage (AK), Dover (DE), Tampa (FL), Atlanta (GA) (twice!), and Allegheny County ¶ before returning to Evansville as a young adult. When I was very young (birth - almost 3) my babysitter was from western Tennessee and sometimes when I get to yelling I sound a lot like her, but I have lived here in Florida for the last 25 of my 28 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403/40 "2007-11-23T15:39:39Z")
Where did I grow up? Born in Peterborough, Ontario (pronounced “Peederburl” 🙂 ); moved to Whitby at age 7, grew the rest of the way up in Whitby and Oshawa, now live in Toronto. In short, I couldn’t be any more Southern Ontario if I tried. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vocal-samples-thread-how-do-you-say-it/427403.md?page=3)