Lazy presenters

[Richard Tarleton]

Reminds me of school. A teacher enters the staffroom, fuming, fit to be tied. S/he gives out reams of painful frustration at the insolent behaviour of a certain pupil, and heads nod in sympathetic agreement all round the room. Then someone pipes up "I have no problem in my class."

KD's problem(s) is (are) that she swallows her words, and gabbles. As you point out, jean, you knew to whom you were listening. That's the point of having an announcer on the radio, where we can't see the programme.

BTW what did you think of the concert?

[french frank]

That's the point of having an announcer on the radio, where we can't see the programme.

Look at the playlist, then - Simon Trpchesk (even the playlist swallows its final syllables! But helpfully expands its diacritics).

[jean]

BTW what did you think of the concert?

Loved it. I did notice a few fumbled notes in the broadcast that I hadn't spotted first time round.

He was doing a residency here with his 'old pal' Vasily, and it was all wonderful.

(What was odd was to hear that the concert had been in the St George's Hall - the hall never had an article, even in the days when Wigmore et al really did!)

.

[jean]

Simon Trpchesk (even the playlist swallows its final syllables! But helpfully expands its diacritics).

That reminds me that The British Museum Germany exhibition 'expanded' the Polish spelling of Szczecin with an extra e - Szcezecin - presumably because they couldn't believe so many consonants together...

[gurnemanz]

That reminds me that The British Museum Germany exhibition 'expanded' the Polish spelling of Szczecin with an extra e - Szcezecin - presumably because they couldn't believe so many consonants together...

On University Challenge last night they were asked how many letters the name Khrushchov had in its Russian form. Someone got it - may have guessed. Six - Хрущеb.

[french frank]

gurnemanz - how do the Germans pronounce Jean Paul? I always assumed the Jean as French and the Paul to rhyme with howl (not bowl) with no grounds at all for the assumption. Or are both names as in French?

[gurnemanz]

gurnemanz - how do the Germans pronounce Jean Paul? I always assumed the Jean as French and the Paul to rhyme with howl (not bowl) with no grounds at all for the assumption. Or are both names as in French?

You're right. Jean as in French. Paul as in howl. He was christened Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, but changed from Johann in admiration of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I remember one of our lecturers was an authority on him and kept mentioning him.

On our first visit to the Bayreuth Festival this summer we came across a Jean-Paul-Platz + statue quite near Wagner's house Wahnfried.

[french frank]

Many thanks. That's one of the myriad things I didn't know crossed off the list (I didn't know Chamisso either, but I'm not a Germanist).

[marvin]

Just enjoying some lovely Lieder singing from Kitty Whateley for the Lunchtime Concert. Annoyed enough to make a post complaining that the presenter can't even be bothered to check how to pronounce the name of the poet to whose poems the recital is devoted - Adelbert von Chamisso. It took me only ten seconds on Google to confirm that I had been pronouncing it correctly for the last 40 years - "shamisso" not "kamisso".

Ah, that is why we should have had Ms Dereham announcing with her unfailing accuracy or pronunciation, together with the gutteral Germanic undertones.

[Flosshilde]

Many thanks. That's one of the myriad things I didn't know crossed off the list .

An interesting concept - a list of things one doesn't know. Can one know the things one doesn't know, or does the fact that one doesn't know them only become apparent when one does know them? Is it only possible to have a list of things one doesn't know once one knows them, in which case one wouldn't cross things off it but add things to it, and the list would grow rather than reduce,

[JFLL]

An interesting concept - a list of things one doesn't know. Can one know the things one doesn't know, or does the fact that one doesn't know them only become apparent when one does know them? Is it only possible to have a list of things one doesn't know once one knows them, in which case one wouldn't cross things off it but add things to it, and the list would grow rather than reduce,

Interesting (?quasi-) philosophical point. It could be a virtual list of myriad things, so that when you did come to know one of them, it was virtually crossed off?

[jean]

Can one know the things one doesn't know, or does the fact that one doesn't know them only become apparent when one does know them?

Two different sets of things.

Donald Rumsfeld was unfairly pilloried when he distinguished them.

[jean]

Ah, that is why we should have had Ms Dereham announcing with her unfailing accuracy or pronunciation, together with the gutteral Germanic undertones.

If you're going to nitpick about her pronunciation, you could at least get her name right.

[DracoM]

Despite the gushing Ms Derham's superlatives, I note that The Times reviewed the very same recital in decidedly luke warm terms. Difference is that, whether you agree or disagree with him, Richard Morrison is paid to evaluate and present his considered opinions, Ms Derham is a PRESENTER.

Can R3 presenters STOP telling us how wonderful etc the performances are / were? I mean how dare they presume to tell us how we should react?

[Flosshilde]

Two different sets of things.

Donald Rumsfeld was unfairly pilloried when he distinguished them.

Yes, I had Rumsfeldt in mind. As you say, he had two categories of unkowns - the known & the unknown. If ff's list was an actual list it could only contain the first, but then wouldn't be a complete list, which would have to also include the second. Even if it was conceptual she still couldn't add the second unknowns to it until she knew them, when they would cease to be unknowns - and it would no longer be a list of unknowns.