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Catherine Cowdery, The Voice Behind The Announcements Is Revelaed


Sea Beach

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Not for nothing, the overuse and acceptance of text, hip-hop-speak (phat, wuz, fellaz, etc.), and other forms of slang contribute to a general laziness and indifference in learning and using correct pronunciation and spelling. I had some momo at DMV trying to tell me how to "correctly" pronounce my own surname. I asked her why she thought my name should be pronounced her way. She replied, "Because the first letter is silent." Really, who said so? "Well, uh, it's supposed to be silent." Again, who said so? It wouldn't be there if it wasn't meant to be pronounced. Or, is it that you're too damned lazy to say it correctly? Don't be dismissive of pronunciation and spelling. Illiteracy impresses no one, except another illiterate. Just my 2 cents. Keep the change. :P

 

Aight cuz. Werd up.

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"Instead of saying "kosciuszko Street" (Koskeyosko) normally, she says it like "Kozooko Street"

 

"3. I dont think anyone really cares about pronunciation."

 

I care. How in the world can you look at "Kosciuszko" and get "Kos-key-osko" from that?

 

Kosciuszko - Kos-choose-ko

 

Schermerhorn - Ske-mer-horn

 

Not for nothing, the overuse and acceptance of text, hip-hop-speak (phat, wuz, fellaz, etc.), and other forms of slang contribute to a general laziness and indifference in learning and using correct pronunciation and spelling. I had some momo at DMV trying to tell me how to "correctly" pronounce my own surname. I asked her why she thought my name should be pronounced her way. She replied, "Because the first letter is silent." Really, who said so? "Well, uh, it's supposed to be silent." Again, who said so? It wouldn't be there if it wasn't meant to be pronounced. Or, is it that you're too damned lazy to say it correctly? Don't be dismissive of pronunciation and spelling. Illiteracy impresses no one, except another illiterate. Just my 2 cents. Keep the change. :P

 

Kosciuszko is of Polish origin, so the pronunciation is going to be different than the standard way we would pronounce it.

 

This recording is from the name it came from. That's also how you pronounce Kosciusko: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Pl-Tadeusz_Ko%C5%9Bciuszko.ogg

 

I don't know where that hip-hop slang rant came from (since it had nothing to do with what anyone said) but I can tell you that if anyone tries to tell you how to pronounce your name, they're obviously dumb as hell!

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"Instead of saying "kosciuszko Street" (Koskeyosko) normally, she says it like "Kozooko Street"

 

"3. I dont think anyone really cares about pronunciation."

 

I care. How in the world can you look at "Kosciuszko" and get "Kos-key-osko" from that?

 

Kosciuszko - Kos-choose-ko

 

Schermerhorn - Ske-mer-horn

 

Not for nothing, the overuse and acceptance of text, hip-hop-speak (phat, wuz, fellaz, etc.), and other forms of slang contribute to a general laziness and indifference in learning and using correct pronunciation and spelling. I had some momo at DMV trying to tell me how to "correctly" pronounce my own surname. I asked her why she thought my name should be pronounced her way. She replied, "Because the first letter is silent." Really, who said so? "Well, uh, it's supposed to be silent." Again, who said so? It wouldn't be there if it wasn't meant to be pronounced. Or, is it that you're too damned lazy to say it correctly? Don't be dismissive of pronunciation and spelling. Illiteracy impresses no one, except another illiterate. Just my 2 cents. Keep the change. :P

 

Hmmmm what hip-hop have to do with ppl or a person mispronouncing a train station street name?

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Hmmmm what hip-hop have to do with ppl or a person mispronouncing a train station street name?

 

I used that as an example of the general devolution in language skills. Textspeak, hip-hop slang and hipsterisms are just a few examples of this decline. If one is too lazy to spell and speak correctly, what makes you think that this individual will actually say "Manhattan" instead of "Ma-hattan or "Graham" instead of "Gran-ham"? Both of the mispronunciations are heard on a daily basis. Like, OMG, supposably :P, people living on a particular street, let alone in this city, should know how to pronounce the name of a location correctly, lol. I was born, raised and still reside in Brooklyn, speak with a distinct "Greenpernt" accent; but, I'll be damned if I didn't take the time ,when I was a kid, to learn how to pronounce place names and run of the mill words correctly. You don't need to agree; those are my personal opinions and observations.

 

As an aside, the conductor of my 7:20 A.M. (G) train always announces, "Next stop, Brrrrod-a-way!" How many of the semi-comatose passengers are aware that he's referencing the mispelled station tile on the Queens-bound platform?

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The person who does the gap announcement on the M-7/A's is the person who is on the AirTrain announcements around JFK Airport and he also do the "There is an express (5) train to Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue approaching the station" for the next train arriving @ the train stations and his name is Bernie Wagenblast.

 

As far as I know, it's not me doing the gap announcements on the M-7A's. I recorded quite a few words and phrases so it's possible they used one of my recordings on the M-7A's, but to the best of my knowledge my voice is only heard on the "next train" announcements in the IRT stations. As you mentioned, I'm also the voice of the AirTrain at JFK and Newark airports.

 

If someone has a recording of one of the gap announcements, please let me know. I'd love to hear it.

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I used that as an example of the general devolution in language skills. Textspeak, hip-hop slang and hipsterisms are just a few examples of this decline. If one is too lazy to spell and speak correctly, what makes you think that this individual will actually say "Manhattan" instead of "Ma-hattan or "Graham" instead of "Gran-ham"? Both of the mispronunciations are heard on a daily basis. Like, OMG, supposably :), people living on a particular street, let alone in this city, should know how to pronounce the name of a location correctly, lol. I was born, raised and still reside in Brooklyn, speak with a distinct "Greenpernt" accent; but, I'll be damned if I didn't take the time ,when I was a kid, to learn how to pronounce place names and run of the mill words correctly. You don't need to agree; those are my personal opinions and observations.

 

As an aside, the conductor of my 7:20 A.M. (G) train always announces, "Next stop, Brrrrod-a-way!" How many of the semi-comatose passengers are aware that he's referencing the mispelled station tile on the Queens-bound platform?

 

Well I know ppl that still mispronounce Houston Street and a few others and I get what you are saying!

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As far as I know, it's not me doing the gap announcements on the M-7A's. I recorded quite a few words and phrases so it's possible they used one of my recordings on the M-7A's, but to the best of my knowledge my voice is only heard on the "next train" announcements in the IRT stations. As you mentioned, I'm also the voice of the AirTrain at JFK and Newark airports.

 

If someone has a recording of one of the gap announcements, please let me know. I'd love to hear it.

 

 

 

That's the M-7A.....I thought their gap announcements was reprogrammed

 

 

 

Here's the M-7 reprogrammed gap announcement!

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I've mentioned before that I was the recording engineering when we recorded the original IRT announcements at WBBR in the late 90s. I remember thinking at the time that some of the pronunciations were a little off. One of the announcers (I think it was Charlie Pellet) and I discussed it in the studio because we both questioned them.

 

The scripts that we used were provided by the MTA, and included phonetic spelling for some names to be sure they were pronounced the way the MTA wanted them. I am not sure if this was also done when the lettered lines were recorded because it was after my time, but I would venture a guess that it was. They were very picky in those early recordings, and if the MTA personnel was the same for the later recordings, I would think that they were being just as picky.

 

I'm willing to be that if some stops were mis-pronounced, it was because they were verbalized as the MTA wanted. That being said, there may have been some regionalisms that slipped through. For instance, Dianne is from Chicago and occasionally the midwestern accent is apparent. Likewise, Charlie "Please stand clear of the closing doors" Pellet is actually British, and developed the American accent after moving here.

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Ehhh...The best announcer for the NTT's is Jessica Ettinger (4)(5)(6) IRT with that pleasant but loud with a anger tone voice.

And Diane Thompson I fall in love with her voice on the (F).She sounds horrible on the (1),(2) & (3) but the (F) is just pure sexy voice.

 

dude what are you talkin about? first she only does the (2) not the (1) & (3). & her voice on the (2) is much softer & sexier on the (2). on the (F) she sounds like shes very strict & straight with her voice. it also sounds like she trying to sound more like jessica ettinger.

 

but i do agree that jessica ettingers voice is loud & harsh:(

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dude what are you talkin about? first she only does the (2) not the (1) & (3). & her voice on the (2) is much softer & sexier on the (2). on the (F) she sounds like shes very strict & straight with her voice. it also sounds like she trying to sound more like jessica ettinger.

 

but i do agree that jessica ettingers voice is loud & harsh:(

Feeling stupid now?

 

 

She sounds bad on the (1)(2)(3) compared to the (A)(C)(F)

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