Pronounciation

The temperature has dropped. Not to freezing, but enough to have a sweater handy. I thought about mowing. But I needed to find a tasty recipe for tonight's meal. So far I have failed to find one that speaks to me and the thawing chicken in my sink. 

HeWho just strolled through and placed a blanket on my legs and told me to stay inside, out of the wind. I must obey him, right? I can hear the windchimes even with the windows closed, so I already knew the wind was strong. I thought I might warm up pushing the mower while listening to a book.

I am listening to The First Lady by James Patterson. His books never disappoint. The narrator is a different story. I listen to a lot of books and there are good ones, mediocre ones and really bad ones. Some of them just read the words, with no voice inflection at all. If I have read the author previously and really like their work, I can plow through and use my own imagination. Most times, though, I will just return the book and start on another. I get them from the library, so it's not like I paid for them.

Well known authors generally have good narrators and I can't imagine that anyone proofed this performance before releasing it. She was okay with voice inflection, but mispronounced some words that really make her seem simple minded. Drove me a little crazy. I was mowing and every time she mispronounced a word I would yell out the correct pronunciation. I did have some people look at me as they drove by and I am sure they though I was a little on the crazy side.

She must not be a history buff, as she pronounced Potomac as "potta-mack". See what I mean? That word is in the book a lot. The first lady rides a horse and she really mangled that one. I am not even sure what she was trying to say, but the way she said it, it had too many vowels. Without actually seeing the word I couldn't be sure, but I think it might have been Arapahoa. She said "air-a-pa-ho-a" with the emphasis on a different syllable at times. I think it must have ended in "a" because she said it, but it was probably a silent "a".

Maybe I am being too critical? But, if someone was paying me to read the book aloud, I would have a dictionary close at hand for words I was unfamiliar with ….. or I would ask someone! So now I am wondering how much this job pays. I can read aloud and it would be a fun job. Of course I would read the entire book before I attempted to read it aloud. I would do a little research to make sure I was pronouncing all the words correctly, and I would definitely have someone listen to it before I submitted my work for publication. But, maybe that's just me!