Thursday, December 11, 2008
Loud Voicers - We Must Have Pity
I am killing time reading Private Eye in a pub in Soho when some youngish, affluent people come in. One of them is a beefy girl who stands at the bar thinking for a moment and then starts ordering, complete with footnotes and digressions. Her voice is so loud that I and the other lonely drinkers reflexively attempt to cover our ears with our shoulders. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I can't shout as loud as that. I have to leave. Outside on the pavement she is still clearly audible. How do people get through life without discovering they are deafening everybody in the immediate vicinity? The loud or, more insidious, penetrating voice is an appalling handicap. Is there no caring body to which these people can turn? It would make a most moving subject for a Radio 4 Appeal delivered by Stephen Fry.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Ah, the lone male daytime drinker. It's a beautiful feeling, lovely and sad. But only when it's quiet.
ReplyDeleteHorsey girls tend to be loud. One I know could drown out Brian Blessed even in her museum voice.
Beefy = stocky well fed yoeman type. Or the solid hockey girl. Either way there is a field involved, might explain the volume ?.
ReplyDeleteChap i knew took a mouthy co-worker's voice away because she wouldn't shut up. Not a bad idea, by any means.
ReplyDeleteIn better pubs it would be an asset, but I know what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI'm discovering that I'm -quieter- than I imagine. People get offended when I return their greetings with a 'Hi', or what have you, because they think I haven't responded at all.
ReplyDeleteI must speak up.
I trust it was the Coach & Horses, Bryan.
ReplyDeleteLol. Norfolk Sage in Soho Lass Horror Shock: Mistook Coach and Horses for Zen monastery.
ReplyDeleteI hate loud people, male or female. i was recently tortured by one on a rail journey who told the same story -- loudly -- on her cell phone to six different people between Secaucus and Hamilton, N.J. (where she, thank the Lord for small favors) got off....
ReplyDeleteDangling modifier, I know, but you can figure it out....