dispatchdave Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) Heh, when I did tech support for big blue we'd give serial numbers etc. over the phone in the form "A as in Alpha". When we were dealing with regulars or people we didn't like we'd get… creative. "P as in pnumonia, K as knife" etc. There is a Bare Naked Ladies song to that effect. On their kid's album Snack Time, Maybe not the best song ever, but it's close. :) ETA: Hehe.... bdellium....hehe. Edited March 5, 2013 by dispatchdave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atramagus Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Heh, when I did tech support for big blue we'd give serial numbers etc. over the phone in the form "A as in Alpha". When we were dealing with regulars or people we didn't like we'd get… creative. "P as in pnumonia, K as knife" etc. So, I did tech support for one Verizon at one point. Had a very cute sounding girl on the other end of the phone, who apparently liked my voice (this was determined by her telling me I had a sexy voice). When I gave her the typical "a for alpha, c for charlie" she read it back to me in a rather... interesting interpretation of the phonetic alphabet. I would post it here, but it was definitely not family friendly. I had to pretend that she was saying things back normally, as repeating them back to her could have gotten me fired (yay, corporations). The call was monitored. My supervisor at the time laughed his butt off when we reviewed the call and gave me a high five. I also apparently got a really great survey from the call. C.c 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodydrake Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 (edited) Love me some audible! been a member for almost 2 years .the platinum membership lets me get 2 books a month for 25bucks..its a steal. I listened to about 80books last year and I'll probably hit about 100 this year. I'm a road service computer tech for a school board so I spend all day either on the road or in front of a computer watching progress bars. And audiobooks are fantastic for when painting the time just drifts by. about the dnd books..be careful of the narrators..they seem to have done this in bulk and didn't look for any quality readers..there is a night and day difference to an audiobook with a good narrator vs a bad one. I recommend listening to the samples before buying.reading alot of comments many are not impressed. So far I've found the best narrators are those that do voice work for radio tv and animation..people trained as voice actors. Surprisingly Urban Fantasy has some of the best Narrators going Marguerite Gavin,Luke Daniels,Khristine Hvam, and Oliver Wyman are some of the best in the business. Edited March 5, 2013 by bloodydrake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sundseth Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 Pronunciation: 'sī-ǝn And it's interesting how it has the -en sound, given it's roots are sioun (Middle English) and cion (Old French) Note that that's a schwa, not an e. In English, nearly any unstressed vowel can take on a schwa sound. This is one of the many reasons that spelling bees are a sport in English. In some other languages with a simpler correlation between orthography and pronunciation, there's really no point, since spelling is much more obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Sundseth Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 So far I've found the best narrators are those that do voice work for radio tv and animation..people trained as voice actors. Surprisingly Urban Fantasy has some of the best Narrators going Marguerite Gavin,Luke Daniels,Khristine Hvam, and Oliver Wyman are some of the best in the business. From the same genre, I'll also mention James Marsters, who does a brilliant job with The Dresden Files. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloodydrake Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 ya James Marsters got really good thru out the Dresden files but he started off kind flat..but by the 4th or so book he kinda flipped a switch and said hey..lets have some fun with this 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atramagus Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 ya James Marsters got really good thru out the Dresden files but he started off kind flat..but by the 4th or so book he kinda flipped a switch and said hey..lets have some fun with this I've heard how so many people love listening to him, but I can't bring myself to do it. I've got all the characters set with a specific voice in my head, and listening to someone else's voice would feel... weird. It just wouldn't work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dispatchdave Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 So far I've found the best narrators are those that do voice work for radio tv and animation..people trained as voice actors. Surprisingly Urban Fantasy has some of the best Narrators going Marguerite Gavin,Luke Daniels,Khristine Hvam, and Oliver Wyman are some of the best in the business. From the same genre, I'll also mention James Marsters, who does a brilliant job with The Dresden Files. My favorite narrators are probably Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs. There's something about a british accent that makes audiobooks so much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Girot Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 While we're on the subject, please please please does anybody know how to pronounce "scion?" sounds like "uppity-minion" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanael Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Oi, the silent "p." We used to game with an engineer who grew up reading more than talking, and was even less familiar with the passive learning of language through listening. She pronounced "pseudo" as "piss-way-dough," and thought "soo-dough-dragons" were a thing I made up because she couldn't find the entry in the monster manual. She also thought Monte Cook's giant urban campaign setting from the mid-aughts was pronounced, "Poltus." And resisted, quite vehemently, any attempts to correct her. Quintessential high-INT, low-WIS scenario. And an illustration of the ridiculous bastardry of English's linguistic heritage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pingo Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thanks, everybody. That's been one of my gaming bugaboo words for a while. I am relieved to say I have been pronouncing it more or less correctly, but I kept having an overwhelming sense that I ought to pronounce it "shawn." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slendertroll Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Thanks, everybody. That's been one of my gaming bugaboo words for a while. I am relieved to say I have been pronouncing it more or less correctly, but I kept having an overwhelming sense that I ought to pronounce it "shawn." Speaking of Shawn, I pronounced Sean as "seen" for the longest time. Also "Ee-oin" Colfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arachne Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 So far I've found the best narrators are those that do voice work for radio tv and animation..people trained as voice actors. Surprisingly Urban Fantasy has some of the best Narrators going Marguerite Gavin,Luke Daniels,Khristine Hvam, and Oliver Wyman are some of the best in the business. From the same genre, I'll also mention James Marsters, who does a brilliant job with The Dresden Files. Oh yeah, great narrators, and I've got a voice crush on Marsters. I also like Kate Reading Simon Vance, and Anne Flosnik a lot. At first Anne Flosnik got under my skin, but after listening to the whole Kushiel's Legacy series, I have to say, I love her style. I like Davina Porter, too. George Guidall, too, rubbed me the wrong way at first, but his voice is kind of addicting. I did notice that the narration on these D&D books was a little, erm, generic, but I'm happy they're doing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Audiobooks are absolute torture for me as much as there are times I would love to utilize them. Attention and auditory processing issues kill me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atramagus Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Audiobooks are absolute torture for me as much as there are times I would love to utilize them. Attention and auditory processing issues kill me. I only use audiobooks while driving. I tend to visit areas on the weekend that are 2-4 hours distant, one way. Having something to listen to during the drive really, really helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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