Pat Robertson. When we go to bed we turn on the TV on a sleep timer for background noise, and Pat’s horrible show is on right before “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” So if Jay Leno finishes his monologue/Headlines/whatever early and I forget and switch it over to Disney Family Channel before midnight, I can’t grab the remote fast enough to switch away from Pat’s whiny voice (not to mention his weird-looking face). Ugh.
Lynne Rossetto Kasper of NPR’s Splendid Table cooking show.
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/
It’s…unctuous and oozes fake enthusiasm, IMO. I can’t listen to her. I like Terry Gross though, her voice doesn’t bother me at all.
First time I heard Diane Rehm (another NPR host) I thought WTF is up with her voice and how come anyone listens to her? She has spasmodic dysphonia, a voice disorder that causes spasms in the larynx or something. As a result she speaks in oddly measured tones, which sounds really strange at first but she’s such a good interviewer that I’m a fan.
NYC 101 WINS radio spokesperson Patrician McCann. Just hearing her voice makes me shudder, and jump to change the station.
I don’t even think I read the whole title before Sarah Palin jumped to mind. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and her ridiculous, down home catchphrases make me want to jab out my eardrums.
Also, certain lispy speech impediments bug me. The guy who plays Angel Batista on Dexter talks like a little kid. I’m not trying to be an ass to people with speech impediments, I realize it’s a medical thing, but you’d think actors would do speech therapy so they would be able to speak more clearly. There’s also a guy that does Science Minute or Science Corner, some name like that, but it’s just a short thing they do between shows, anyway, he talks like he has a mouth full of marbles and it is horrid.
Funny how one person’s annoying can be another’s soothing. Half the time I’m not even paying attention to what Lynne is actually saying, (even though she does have amazing cooking tips) her voice is so hypnotic to me. I can’t listen to her while driving because I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep. Weird…haha.
This is old, but since we’re dealing with celebrities of one stripe or another, I’m moving this to Cafe Society, from IMHO.
Erin Burnett, generally likeable and easy on the eyes, still anytime I listen it sounds like she needs to take out her retainer…
Bless his heart, ESPN needs to pay Lou Holtz enough that he can buy himself some new dentures.
Jill Abramson, the new Executive Editor of the NY Times, has a famously weird-upper-crusty sounding accent. HuffPo link to an article about linguists trying to analyze it.
She must be good as an editor to be effective while sounding so affected…
Is that a new thing? I can’t imagine taking a coach seriously if he spoke like that.
I can’t listen to NPR during the day because of Diane Rehm. I know she has a condition, but you’re on radio, you need to be able to speak.
Seconded !
Also on British t.v. its the fashion now for presenters to speak with " cartoon cut out " local accents.
(This because we’re all so clever and classless and free.)
So you get the spectacle of people simalteneously clearing up their accent so that people can understand them, while exaggerating the “cute” part of it.
Speakers of mock, Geordie and Ulster accents grate, but the one that really, really pees me off; is some shaven headed bloke who speaks in a O.T.T. “Mockney” accent.
7 months…hmm, dare I?..sure, why not…
Agree with Ann Coulter (drooling vitriol), Dr. Laura (just mean & condescending), and Suze Orman (just talk normally…please?).
I would have guessed you were referring to the nasally Brian Williams of NBC who is still on. Peter Jennings of ABC did die of lung cancer but I always thought he had a good voice & delivery for evening news.
This.
Not yours, mine.
Is there a term for a double zombie?
Surely Alyson Hannigan has made enough money by now to get her deviated septum fixed. Or at least carry around some tissues. I don’t know if the reason I can’t stand her character on How I Met Your Mother is because of her nasally voice or if I started noticing her nasally voice because I’ve come to dislike the character.
Also of NPR, Eleanor Beardsley. She is usually reporting on things French, and she also has a really nasal voice with an underlying gutteral sound.
I dunno if he does it when he speaks, but James Hetfield of Metallica has gotten into the habit of adding a syllable to the end of every line he sings.
“Waiting for the one-nuh
The day that never comes-uh”
NPR’s Peter Overby sounds like he’s really having trouble getting each word out of his mouth. It’s painful to listen to, IMHO.
Ira Glass and Sarah Vowell. I would gladly read any piece of writing they’d written, because I like how they think, but I can’t listen to them, I just…I just can’t, they sound so goddamn awful.
Also, I love the guy but Martin Freeman needs to see an ENT for the sinus infection he’s clearly had for years. He perpetually sounds clogged up.
Celeb chefs tend to be the worst for me. Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa, is horrible. Her smug condescending purring delivery makes me want to smash things.