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August 19, 2008
Nicaragua
Last night I went with Kris, Miss Fee and The SV to see David Sedaris talk at the Opera House (yes, the OPERA HOUSE!) He was as brilliant as you might expect. Funny, insightful, a little dorky, and utterly charming. He's the find of dinner guest you dream about.
He told a could of stories that he couldn't include in new book because they didn't translate well, they needed to be read aloud. One was about a university professor who did what I lovingly call an 'SBS pronunciation'. See, here in Sydney, the SBS is a public Tv station that is has a very good reputation for insightful news broadcasting. But some of their on air talent like to pronounce foreign words as if they are saying them in the native tongue. So they will be chatting away about some conflict in South America in a typical Aussie accent blah, blah, blah and then whenever they get to the name of the country involved they instantly start rolling r's and whatnot. It's a little irritating really.
David Sedaris' professor did this with the word 'Nicaragua'. This American professor pronounced it like he was born and bread in Tijuana
I wished I had the time to stay and have a book signed just so I could have told him about the SBS, and that he should definitely catch the news before he left this fair country.
Maybe next time.
Until then I'll be putting my name down for this new book at my library
Posted by gadgetgirl at August 19, 2008 08:29 AM
Comments
I love David Sedaris! Did he do his Billie Holiday shtick? BTW, there's a newscaster in Ft. Myers who is totally "american" but has a perfect accent when he pronounces hispanic names...thought it was only me who got annoyed!
Posted by: jill at August 19, 2008 12:30 PM
I love that man too. I missed my chance when he was here, Stupid work. I agree he would love that bizarre linguistic tic
Posted by: eighmie at August 19, 2008 07:40 PM