Today is Voice Day - who knew?
Human voices in tone and "feel" are as individual as fingerprints - and as astrology's natal charts. To celebrate the day, I've gathered together below some descriptive phrases used by writers and novelists when describing voices of their characters or acquaintances. These do, occasionally, lapse close to silly simile territory, you know, the "Her eyes held the glow of a late-night laptop" kind of thing. Anyway here goes:
“The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Her laughter changed her voice from wind chimes to the jingling of sleigh bells.”
― Leland Dirks, Seven Dogs in Heaven
“The timbre of his voice went into that low register that made my insides curl in on themselves--it was like my uterus was tapping out a happy dance on the rest of my organs.”
― Cora Carmack, Losing It
“Tricky was a plain-faced man with a very handsome voice - a voice like the sound of a clarinet, at once liquid and penetrating, and lovely to listen to.”
― Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet
“She had a voice so husky it could have pulled a dogsled, and the gun she was holding gave me a bad case of barrel envy.”
― Patrick Major Dallas OR
“She was a voice with a body as afterthought, a wry smile that sailed through heavy traffic. Give her a history and she'd disappear."
Eric Packer about Vija Kinski”― Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis
“His voice is deep and gravelly. I once heard one of the girls say that he had the voice of a sex god, but because I've never really heard what a sex god sounds like, I can't verify that.”
― Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca
“His voice was cloves and nightingales, it took us to spice markets in the Celebs, we drifted with him on a houseboat beyond the Coral Sea. We were like cobras following a reed flute.”
― Janet Fitch, White Oleander
“The voice was cool, drawling, and insolent, but the eyes were something else. She looked about as hard to get as a haircut.”
― Raymond Chandler
“Such a voice this man has. The way he sounds isn't a sound at all. It's a river into which words are thrown.”
― Laura Bynum, Veracity
“The silkiness of his voice was a torturous caress that I could have endured for the rest of my life.”
― Melissa Andrea, Flutter
World Voice Day is a worldwide annual event that takes place on April 16 devoted to the celebration of the phenomenon of voice. (Wikipedia)Voice Day, of course, is all about actual voice, rather than the metaphoric voice we use online, "voicing" opinion via keyboard generated word.
Human voices in tone and "feel" are as individual as fingerprints - and as astrology's natal charts. To celebrate the day, I've gathered together below some descriptive phrases used by writers and novelists when describing voices of their characters or acquaintances. These do, occasionally, lapse close to silly simile territory, you know, the "Her eyes held the glow of a late-night laptop" kind of thing. Anyway here goes:
“The exhilarating ripple of her voice was a wild tonic in the rain.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Her laughter changed her voice from wind chimes to the jingling of sleigh bells.”
― Leland Dirks, Seven Dogs in Heaven
“The timbre of his voice went into that low register that made my insides curl in on themselves--it was like my uterus was tapping out a happy dance on the rest of my organs.”
― Cora Carmack, Losing It
“Tricky was a plain-faced man with a very handsome voice - a voice like the sound of a clarinet, at once liquid and penetrating, and lovely to listen to.”
― Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet
“She had a voice so husky it could have pulled a dogsled, and the gun she was holding gave me a bad case of barrel envy.”
― Patrick Major Dallas OR
“She was a voice with a body as afterthought, a wry smile that sailed through heavy traffic. Give her a history and she'd disappear."
Eric Packer about Vija Kinski”― Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis
“His voice is deep and gravelly. I once heard one of the girls say that he had the voice of a sex god, but because I've never really heard what a sex god sounds like, I can't verify that.”
― Melina Marchetta, Saving Francesca
“His voice was cloves and nightingales, it took us to spice markets in the Celebs, we drifted with him on a houseboat beyond the Coral Sea. We were like cobras following a reed flute.”
― Janet Fitch, White Oleander
“The voice was cool, drawling, and insolent, but the eyes were something else. She looked about as hard to get as a haircut.”
― Raymond Chandler
“Such a voice this man has. The way he sounds isn't a sound at all. It's a river into which words are thrown.”
― Laura Bynum, Veracity
“The silkiness of his voice was a torturous caress that I could have endured for the rest of my life.”
― Melissa Andrea, Flutter
Our voices are becoming antiquated, except for our physically nearest and dearest. Digital communication is squelching our sound waves.
ReplyDeleteExcerpt from "Dear Abby":
"DEAR ABBY: I recently exchanged pleasantries via email and text messaging with a lady I met on a website. One day later, I received a message from her stating she'd prefer our method of communication be kept to email and texting because she wasn't much of a phone talker."
http://www.uclick.com/client/ear/da/2014/04/14/
I hope that you and anyjazz are celebrating Voice Day (VD...LOL) with some sonic pleasantries.
mike ~ Good point! LOL! @ Dear Abby.
ReplyDeleteanyjazz and I first met online, as it happens, we did share one or two phone calls later on, though, but e-mail became our main communication line. :-)
That was 11 years ago, long before Facebook, Twitter and the rest.
Voices - real ones: favourite speaking voice is that of Sam Elliott - fair makes me toes curl, it does! :-O
When vital concise communication is concerned...there's no substitute for the spoken voice IMO.....when it comes to texting or writing text in general, so many inaccurate interpretations can happen....especially when tender fragile emotions are involved.....i. e. a list of simple "alternatives" can be perceived as "ultimatums" for instance. Facial expressions are absent...body language is invisible etc.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, that it takes a keen talent sense of knowing EX-ACT-LY WHAT to type when the emotions are involved in communicating....assume too much while using the ol' keyboard...and concise communication can be "dead in the water".
I never leave important, poignant issues up to the keyboard....true voice is best when truly important matters are at stake.
I assume I am preaching to the choir on this one. :)
DC ~ You truly are preaching to the choir, DC! :-) Even the best wordsmith cannot create the same amount of nuance, emotion, and exact meaning in a conversation/discussion as even the least eloquent of human voices.
ReplyDeleteWe can see problems arising every day in comment threads for those reasons.
Yet....and I found this a lot when I first began using forums, message boards etc having bought my first computer in 2001 - there IS something different available through digital communications that is very interesting.
One gets a "feel" of the person on the other end, though we are "blindfolded". It must be a similar kind of sense to that a blind person has, I guess. But it doesn't help in better understanding what's being discussed, just in getting an unusual (I mean not usually attainable in person) "feel" of the other person.
:-)
ReplyDeleteVote no. 2 for Sam Elliot..
I'll often watch a movie or tv show I wouldnt usually be interested in if one of the actors has a voice I enjoy..
Sonny ~ Me too! And conversely I'll mute the TV remote if someone has a voice like chalk on glass!
ReplyDelete