# Whose voice mannerisms can't you stand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601 "2008-01-23T01:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/81 "2008-01-26T19:51:29Z")
President George W. Bush can barely string a sentence together and seems to just make up words. I _know_ he’s not speaking extemporaneously, so he can’t even read off a teleprompter without screwing it up. I never get the sense that’s he’s actually speaking to us, instead of just being a crappy actor reading a script. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/82 "2008-01-26T20:49:26Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] Terry Gross, NPR’s “Fresh Air”. [/QUOTE] Seconded. I hate the way she uses repeated interjections to constantly interrupt her guest. > [@](#): > > I almost can’t listen to And and and and and and her fake stuttering when she’s railroading the conversation. Listen to the guest you’re interviewing, dammit! > [@](#): > > I almost can’t listen to her program because of her calculated “fresh” tones and over the top NPR qualities of voice. That and she’s trying too hard to sound like she’s 16. She also has an axe to grind about gay rights - a noble sentiment, no doubt, but she brings it up in the weirdest places. For example: > [@](#): > > I’ve been avoiding her on my iPod for months because of this. [terrygross]Do you also find yourself avoiding the iPod because of Steve Jobs - the CEO of Apple Computers, makers of the iPod - because of Steve Jobs’ recent off-the-cuff remarks in the press about gays and New York City rental insurance premiums?[/TG] etc. I dread working late, because then I’d be driving home during her hour of airtime. ---
**Author:** ![bubble\_pop\_electric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@bubble\_pop\_electric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubble_pop_electric)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/83 "2008-01-26T21:52:57Z")
Another vote for Rachel Ray. I thought I was the only one who found her irritating. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/84 "2008-01-26T22:08:48Z")
[QUOTE=Nzinga, Seated] I think I know what you mean. But I don’t know what you mean by “take” vs. “tayk”. What’s the difference? [/QUOTE] Sorry, that wasn’t very clear – I should have written “take” sounds like “tyke.” Like she’s some sort of Eliza Doolittle impersonator or something, making her long A sounds like long I sounds. It’s bleeding annoying, is what it is. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/85 "2008-01-27T00:49:07Z")
So…It’s just me that can’t stand listening to Rudy Giuliani? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/86 "2008-01-27T00:58:46Z")
[QUOTE=The Scrivener] **Al Gore**. And I rather agree with much of what he was pushing as a presidential candidate, but I just couldn’t support him because I couldn’t _stand_ to hear him speak, and purely out of selfishness and self-preservation, refused to vote that year. [/QUOTE] Oh, so \*\*\*you’re \*\*\*the one who cost him the election! The worst voice I’ve ever heard is my own, when I hear a recording of it. Of course from my own point of view through my head, it’s a fine voice indeed. That’s why I’m incapable of correcting it. Famous people: I’d say it’s a tie between Fran Drescher and Joan Cusack. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/87 "2008-01-27T02:39:38Z")
[QUOTE=River Hippie] So…It’s just me that can’t stand listening to Rudy Giuliani? [/QUOTE] Nope. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/88 "2008-01-27T02:42:34Z")
Perhaps a bit of a blast from the past, but Ric Okasek (Ocasek, Okasec, Ocasec???) of the group _The Cars_ always sounded to me like he’d been recorded at 33 1/3 RPM and played back at 28. Always used to drive me nuts. Coomawwwwn, kwiit draaaaguiiingue wurrrrrrdzzzz aoughtttt! It’szzzz djussstttt gknaughtttt whughttttt aiii gneeeeghdheddddh! ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/89 "2008-01-27T02:45:36Z")
[QUOTE=River Hippie] So…It’s just me that can’t stand listening to Rudy Giuliani? [/QUOTE] Yeah, but I figured that was just because of what he was saying and who he is. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/90 "2008-01-27T06:29:40Z")
Two pages and no one has mention **Paul Harvey** and The Rest of the Story? The way he puts a rising inflection on the end of sentences making them sound like questions is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/91 "2008-01-27T15:12:41Z")
91 messages and so far no one has mentioned William Shatner?! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/92 "2008-01-27T16:04:07Z")
[QUOTE=Projammer] Two pages and no one has mention **Paul Harvey** and The Rest of the Story? The way he puts a rising inflection on the end of sentences making them sound like questions is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard. [/QUOTE] Thought he was dead, and beyond pestering me. ---
**Author:** ![peterjvolkert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e68b1a/32.png) [@peterjvolkert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterjvolkert)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/93 "2011-11-24T23:26:07Z")
Even though Zoe Chase’s reports often have interesting subjects, her grating Valley Girl mannerisms make it ever harder to focus on the content. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Stendhal\_Syndrome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Stendhal\_Syndrome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stendhal_Syndrome)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/94 "2011-11-25T09:29:59Z")
Rachel Ray and Joey Lauren Adams ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/95 "2011-11-25T23:45:40Z")
Wow. A 3- almost 4-yr old zombie. Another vote for Nancy Grace. And what’s-her-name-Velez-something that follows Nancy Grace. They don’t talk. They bitch. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/96 "2011-11-26T05:01:08Z")
Denzel Washington. He seems to have a problem with consonants. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/97 "2011-11-26T07:45:43Z")
Several food show people have been mentioned but none are as annoying as **Rick Bayless**. Who the hell does he think his audience is? Six year olds? Every time he opens his mouth I just want to bitch slap him. The voice of **Julie Kavner** isn’t so bad when it comes out of a cartoon but the woman actually speaks like that in real life! How she made it to adulthood without her parents suffocating her is a miracle. And the absolute worst of all is [**Keith Morrison**](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3949312/ns/dateline_nbc-about_us/t/keith-morrison/). Creepy, creepy, creepy! He gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at him. And when he speaks. OMG! The guy is a freakin’ zombie! ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/98 "2011-11-26T07:47:04Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Terry Gross, NPR’s “Fresh Air”. > > I almost can’t listen to her program because of her calculated “fresh” tones and over the top NPR qualities of voice. > > I’ve been avoiding her on my iPod for months because of this. I quit downloading that podcast because I couldn’t get past the introduction. I couldn’t shake the idea that she was purposely affecting a stereotypical NPR “fresh” voice. “I’m so organic and soft-spoken. I believe my dog is my house partner, not my possession.” I don’t know what she believes, but her tone sounds so artificial that I can’t listen. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/99 "2011-11-27T01:52:53Z")
Fran Drescher and Sara Silverman. ---
**Author:** ![Bhoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@Bhoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bhoe)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601/100 "2011-11-27T17:26:33Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Ann Coulter, besides being a repugnant excuse for a human being, has the most irritating vocal mannerisms I can think of. > > After her comes John Stossel. Listening to that guy’s sing-song whine (oftentimes about whiners, no less) is nauseating. I feel the same about John. Suze Orman. Her voice is very bland and annoying. Also, way too condescending. Lady Gaga’s “speaking voice”. I put speaking voice in quotations, because sometimes she has this WASP overly pronouncing thing to the point of being funny voice and other times she has this Nu Yawk accent. I am pretty sure neither is the way she really talks, but the first one really makes me to pummel her. She has this shit eating “I’m so smart” look when she does it. It also annoys me because it reminds of that decade when Madonna thought she was British. Michael Jackson. Seriously, I used to think he was the same as Gaga. Using a phony voice that only sounded good to him, but looking at the things that have came out since he died he was probably high as a kite. He also had a way of using babyish words. Every time I hear his speaking voice, I think of the episode of Robot Chicken where the alien imposter keeps say “I’m Michael Jackson”. Alanis Morissette! I don’t know if this counts, because I know NO idea what her speaking voice is like. The way she sings makes me want to stab babies. Seriously, it’s whiney and she mispronounces a ton of words. It wouldn’t bother me so much if she was some indie singer who I heard on the radio once, she’s pretty famous and I’m sure she has a grammy. I don’t know how anyone listens to her sing and thinks “I want to hear that again!” :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whose-voice-mannerisms-cant-you-stand/434601.md?page=6)