par4dcourse Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 You know the voice I mean, that sing-song timbre with an "a" added to some words: We-a pray to gawd-a to free us from our sins-a. Most babble belt preachers and televangelists use it. As a child, one of my "church" buddies and I would mock the preacher, doing imitations of his-a sermons-a. My buddy grew up to become a preacher, and in the few times I actually heard him preach, he used the very same voice we previously laughed at. Is there a Rosetta Stone course for learning preacher-ese? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I think it's learned... or rather parodied or maybe aped... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Is there a Rosetta Stone course for learning preacher-ese? Yes. You just described it. It's called Church. You have to attend every time the doors are open from the time your parents first take you when you're an infant till you get "the calling." Practice behind the barn--or neighbourhood dump or wherever there's no pious adult ears to critize if you don't get it quite right--is a major asset. With all this practice and indoctrination, by the time you get your calling, you will have every nuance and intonation down pat so that you can do it perfectly for the next forty years. That will ensure that the art will be passed on to the next couple generations of boys and men so that it will never be lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Broke Free Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 You will know when you have the pulpit-voice down just right. That is when your hair will change overnight into some kind of weird bullet-proof thing that looks like you can take it off and hang on a hook on the wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 You will know when you have the pulpit-voice down just right. That is when your hair will change overnight into some kind of weird bullet-proof thing that looks like you can take it off and hang on a hook on the wall. I get it! That's also when you marry a bejeweled spendthrift who can cry on cue and applies make-up with a trowel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendredie Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 You know the voice I mean, that sing-song timbre with an "a" added to some words: We-a pray to gawd-a to free us from our sins-a. Most babble belt preachers and televangelists use it.As a child, one of my "church" buddies and I would mock the preacher, doing imitations of his-a sermons-a. My buddy grew up to become a preacher, and in the few times I actually heard him preach, he used the very same voice we previously laughed at. Is there a Rosetta Stone course for learning preacher-ese? I couldn't play that "We-a pray to gawd-a to free us from our sins-a." bit in my head without adding an Italian accent to it. But yeah, I know what you mean. It's for the special effect, to make you sound holy and blessed and like you are channeling the words of JAYSUS-a! The preacher at my old church didn't do that, but in my experience younger preachers don't do that (the preacher in question had just turned 40, and while 40 is quite old in my mind [oi! give me a break, I'm 16 here!] it's quite young compared to most preachers). And yes there is a Rosetta Stone course for learning preacher-ese, it's pretty much what RubySera described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWIM Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Another type of "preacher ese" is the roman catholic sing-song opera sounding latin: Our fatherrrr plays dominos with yoouuur fatthherrr... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 It's certainly something that's cultivated. People imitate what they see and will try to replicate what moved them as they watched someone else in a given situation. As a soldier, I mimicked the non-commissioned officers who barked out precise and professional blocks of instruction and training. I wanted my mannerisms and my speech to command the attention and respect THEIRS did. As a musician, my stage presence reflects the style of music I'm playing. Preaching is every bit as much of a performance as an executive presenting before a board of directors or a comedian running through a stand-up act. In every circumstance, there is an audience who is expecting something and if the individual(s) at the center of attention don't play by the unwritten rules of their physical senses, that audience can be quite unreachable. Several years ago, I had a very close friend who was extremely bright and a college educated mother of two. Fantastic mom, excellent wife, wonderful friend, and a very beautiful woman who had an electric smile. She felt "the call" and within the year, she was preaching. At the time, I was deep into religion and was very proud of her. I'll never forget how excited everyone was as she began the opening remarks of her first sermon and how immediately turned off I was when her normal and intelligent speaking voice changed to an irritating, backwoods accent punctuated with heavy breathing and a "HAH!" emphasis at the finish of every third or fourth word. "And Gaaawd-HAH!... spoke out-HAH!... over the earth-HAH!... and said, "Let-HAH!... LET THERE BE LIGHT-HAH! Ooooooh, glooooo-ray!!! He said-HAH! Let there be light-HAH! And, halleloooooooyah, Saints, THERE WAS LIGHT-HAH!" I was absolutely crushed and so turned off by what she was doing, but everyone else was going nuts. I lost a lot of personal respect for her because I felt that she was really lowering herself, but she's a highly requested speaker in the area to this day. It's what the church wants. I think it brings back memories of the days of "ol' time religion" for many, many people and, as a result, that style of delivery appears authentic to them. I'm repulsed by it now and even as a believer, I was never receptive to a speaker who presented themselves in that manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 It's like the use of KJV-style grammar.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coolhermit Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Actually the 'ah' at the end of words comes from (here I've provided no proof of my valuless assertion) Cockney music hall songs. "I've got a luvverly bunch o coconuts -ah. Here they are a'standin' in a row -ah" springs to mind. Or "Ro-ooolll aht the barell-ah" I watched a programme about child preachers in the States - they had the mannerisms down to a tee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 The preacher voice is very manufactured to emphasize the power of the Lord speaking through the preacher. A totally narcisstic behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendredie Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 I'm still mentally adding Italian accents to all of the "preacherese." "We-a pray to owah LAWD-a to-a get inta HEAVEN-a!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogilvy Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 and when they do it, it shows that its not the Holy Spirit leading them, as they claim. its just an act. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandermac Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Does the foaming at the mouth and the spitting come before or after the accent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 Does the foaming at the mouth and the spitting come before or after the accent? The front row at my COG got wetter than a Gallagher show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 See? Now you've gone and put a picture in my mind I really didn't want there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Are you talking about this kind of voice? http://christianityisbullshit.com/audio/voice.m3u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vendredie Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Are you talking about this kind of voice? http://christianityisbullshit.com/audio/voice.m3u Ooooh, that sounds like the voice. But not the one I had in my head, which was ten times funnier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted February 21, 2008 Author Share Posted February 21, 2008 Oh, that brings back horrid memories of being school-aged, and wanting to do anything but listen to the preacher go on. Then, the same faithful old biddies would "get happy" or the altar call would go well and it could drag on for hours. (shivers) edited because I'm too stupid to proofread before I hit the post button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twincats Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Well, even thought Lutheranism seems to be the religion of choice for serial killers ( from another thread) at least the preachers don't have a lot of affected speech pathologies and mannerisms. Yeh, it was pretty boring, but at least it wasn't too irritating that it distracted me from daydreaming about the cute boys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yolanda Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 It is taught, sometimes directly. I sat in on a preaching class with my cousin two years ago. She's now assistant minister at the church. The senior pastor critiqued each class member's sermon. The more preacherese, the better. My question is, if the bible says, walk in the spirit, how come the preachers don't talk in preacherese every day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Because they'd look like complete dumb asses to a general public who have no desire to watch them salivate and jump around in the pulpit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest yolanda Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 I'm being facetious... But I think preacherese originated in the black Baptist culture Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
necrosmith Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Several years ago, I had a very close friend who was extremely bright and a college educated mother of two. Fantastic mom, excellent wife, wonderful friend, and a very beautiful woman who had an electric smile. She felt "the call" and within the year, she was preaching. Which is humorous since Paul forbids women to preach - but that's another topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShackledNoMore Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Preacherese is another one of those things it was necessary to make excuses for to remain xian (or at least fundy). Had to rationalize that the retarded voice was simply a stylistic affectation that we needed to focus instead on the "fact" that god was the "ultimate truth." All the while, of course, the stylistic affectation was SUPPOSED to be one of the techniques which ropes in the masses as they turn off their brains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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