Post to the Host
Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.
September 21, 2006 | 4 Comments
Dear Garrison,
I find it very confusing to come into the Mineapolis-Saint Paul Airport and hear that starchy British Voice announcing the arrival of the shuttle tram.
Can't we please persuade the Airport Authority to let Sue Scott make those
announcements in her perfect Minnesota accent?
Twiss B.
Saint Paulite-in-Exile
We have a British lady's voice on the tram so as to prove that we are cosmopolitan folks here and not a bunch of hayseeds. A Minnesota voice ("Okay, then, let's all get on the tram now and hold on cause the thing's about to get going then.") would cause us shame and embarrassment.
4 Comments
|
Previous Post: |
Next Post: |
Post to the Host Archive
- The Lake Wobegon Effect
- Longevity
- Abdication vs. Retirement
- Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility
- Memory
- Sarah Bellum
- Starting Over
- Do you get to laugh?
- Keep Looking Ahead
- Big City vs. Hometown
- Awful Timing for Love
- Write Funny
- Telling a Story
- Fathers and Daughters
- Big City Yearnings
- Performing in Public
- Visiting Denmark
- Breaking into Show Business
- Moving Back with Mom
- Surviving as a journalist
- Advice for a Competitive Campaign
- A Life-Changing Moment
- In Search of a Wedding Poem
- Trying to turn a passion into a profession
- Spring Break
- American Jokes
- Norwegian Immigration to Lake Wobegon
- One thing leads to another
- All Good Writing is Rewriting
- The Goodbye To Childhood You're On Your Own Now Ceremony
- Skiing in the Alps
- Competing against the young
- Finding confidence
- The value of public universities
- Ruining Lutefisk
- A Christmas Blizzard
- Memoirs
- How do I get noticed?
- Poetry and the Fairer Sex
- Developing a natural voice
- Pentecost
- Boycott
- Anonymous in the Big City
- Thanks to Ford
- Offended
- What happened to that "Sweet Biscuit Fiddle?"
- "Tom and Sally"
- NOTE FROM THE HOST
- SFX Lady??
- Missing The Old Scout
- Live in San Diego
- So Where's Sinclair?
- This is my first big trip away from home. Any advice for a first-time traveler?
- How come the house band is called The Shoe Band?
- October 21 Cinecast
- Getting into the Radio Business
- On the 12th Floor of the Acme Building...
- Going to the Big City!
- 73 Days of Summer Vacation
- Help with a Eulogy
- Where Do I Start?
- Fantasy League Whippets
- Clergywomen in Lake Wobegon
- The more you write, the better it gets
- The Voice
- A Note from GK about Retirement
- Low Self-Esteem
- Useless Degrees
- Car Bomb
- The Dog-Ears of Summer
- Dealing with Disappointment
- Rejection Letters
- English Majors Strike Again
- 7th Grade Report
- GK Responds to Cinecast Posts
Complete Post to the Host Archive
Carl Youngdahl | September 25, 2006 2:27 PM
I think they use a British accent voice because subliminably it commands your attention, whereas a Minnesota voice just subliminably drives you to Caribou for a cup of coffee.
Alison Jenner | October 2, 2006 5:49 PM
I dearly want to visit your airport if only to hear just how starchy the British lady is. If I can offer you some comfort, here in Britain we have some announcers - on radio, sat. nav., telly adverts and the like - with American accents to show how up to date and cool the setup is. As a British lady, none too starchy I hope, may I ask you to celebrate the glorious diversity of our language as it is spoken?
If I lived in a community where all the women were strong, the men were good looking and all the children above average I'd be so proud; as it is when I hear an american accent I like to imagine I'm hearing an echo from my bold adventurous ancestors' time when we in Britain spoke somewhat like you do.
R Ted Carrasco | October 7, 2006 8:12 PM
Well, that sure beats Phoenix airport with their Stephen F. Hawking voiceovers...
Linda | October 14, 2006 12:34 PM
A Minnesota voice in a Minnesota airport would be quite lovely, I think. A bit of regional flavor rather than the electronic or accentless voices we're subjected to would deliver a sense of place. I live near Atlanta, and I wish the recorded voice on the trams in our airport had a southern accent.