Discourse Analysis: T-Gro
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Terri Grrrrross and her syndicated n.p.r. radio show Frrrrresh Air are the nadir of n.p.r. programming. She could be talking about fruit roll-ups, race riots or codpieces and her voice would never rise above the patented public radio whisper. The best [read: most entertaining] interviews she does are the ones with either a) people of any ethnicity that's not her own or b) people involved in something vaguely countercultural.
A couple of weeks ago they replayed her interview with James Hetfield and she asked the really hard questions, like "When you were growing up, did you like to destroy things?"
Today I'm listening and they're replaying a four year old interview (yeah -- four years old) with Will Smith. Now, I don't really mind him. I don't actively like him, but he has nice teeth. He's totally neutral. He's not terrifically offensive to me in the way that T-Gro is.
Anyway, here is an exchange between them:
**********************************************
TG: You're really good with rhymes, and your recordings could almost be a...a sketch. Have you ever written stories?
WS: Yeah, I used to write stories...blablabla [ed. note: I'm not so interested in his answers as I am in her questions, her Hi, I'm A White Person questions.]
TG: So, your mom worked on the school board. Did she ever correct your grammar?
WS: Yeah, my mom was really into education, we weren't allowed to say y'all, blablabla...
TG: Do you feel bilingual?
WS: Do you mean do I feel like I speak Spanish?
**********************************************
And it kept going on like that. I guess you sort of have to hear the way she talks to know why she's so annoying, the way all of her sentences start out with this weird high pitch and descend into Pleasant Valley. Gene Simmons made significant advances in stopping her, but everyone else has pussied out. Ok, so I didn't do any actual discourse analysis here, but I think you can see for yourselves that this middle-aged pixie-cut drone has a pink slip coming.
A couple of weeks ago they replayed her interview with James Hetfield and she asked the really hard questions, like "When you were growing up, did you like to destroy things?"
Today I'm listening and they're replaying a four year old interview (yeah -- four years old) with Will Smith. Now, I don't really mind him. I don't actively like him, but he has nice teeth. He's totally neutral. He's not terrifically offensive to me in the way that T-Gro is.
Anyway, here is an exchange between them:
**********************************************
TG: You're really good with rhymes, and your recordings could almost be a...a sketch. Have you ever written stories?
WS: Yeah, I used to write stories...blablabla [ed. note: I'm not so interested in his answers as I am in her questions, her Hi, I'm A White Person questions.]
TG: So, your mom worked on the school board. Did she ever correct your grammar?
WS: Yeah, my mom was really into education, we weren't allowed to say y'all, blablabla...
TG: Do you feel bilingual?
WS: Do you mean do I feel like I speak Spanish?
**********************************************
And it kept going on like that. I guess you sort of have to hear the way she talks to know why she's so annoying, the way all of her sentences start out with this weird high pitch and descend into Pleasant Valley. Gene Simmons made significant advances in stopping her, but everyone else has pussied out. Ok, so I didn't do any actual discourse analysis here, but I think you can see for yourselves that this middle-aged pixie-cut drone has a pink slip coming.
posted by Amandalucia at 11:28 AM
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