Word: britishisms
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...named Alexander Scourby. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., of Greek immigrant parents and attended college in West Virginia, but he spoke in a "deep and resonant voice" (as Wikipedia puts it) and - here is the key point - with more than a touch of a British accent. Long after Britain had exhausted its resources in World War II and lost its empire, a British accent conveyed authority, dignity, power...
...Scourby was the leading VOG of his day, in documentaries like Victory at Sea and numerous commercials. His was the voice in the first ever recording of the entire Bible, made in the 1940s. At that time, it was as natural to assume that God spoke with a British accent as it was to assume that he had a beard - or, for that matter, that...
Scourby died in 1985, after at least two complete recordings of the Bible and one of the Koran. Yes, in those days, even the Prophet Muhammad had a British accent. So who is God today? The answer is clear: he is James Earl Jones. Jones' voice is best known for five immortal syllables: "THIS [pause] is CNN." Jones is also the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films. And his recording of the King James Version of the Bible has sold more than 400,000 copies. Jones' voice is even deeper and more resonant than Scourby...
...development go back at least to the 1930s and Paul Robeson's singing "Ol' Man River" in Showboat. The therapeutic notion that suffering confers dignity and authority has spread just as the suffering of African Americans over generations has become universally acknowledged. Above all, black American ministers have replaced British politicians, at least in perception, as the world's most eloquent public users of the English language. Our homegrown Martin Luther King Jr. has knocked Winston Churchill off his perch as the ideal...
...festivities of the evening, they are the only ones that the Obamas and Bidens are guaranteed to attend. Bars: Old Ebbitt Bar and Grill, the oldest saloon in Washington, is close to the White House and across the street from the site of Rhodes Tavern, the watering hole where British generals toasted one another as Washington burned in 1812. During the inauguration, however, Washington nightlife will be alive and well: bars will be open all night and serving alcohol until 4 a.m. Museums: In celebration of the election the Smithsonian museums will be featuring presidentially-themed exhibitions, including...