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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009alternative phrase for stage whisper
The thesaurus has let me down! What phrase (slang or formal) describes two people speaking in an apparently private conversion but they want to be overheard in order to put false ideas into a listener's head? It's like a stage whisper except the stage whisper is done in away which sounds false. Also the stage whisper is different because it is usually done to inform (rather than deceive) the listener. TIA > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > sounds false. Also the stage whisper is different because it is usually > done to inform (rather than deceive) the listener. This last para. is suspect. 1. By convention, a stage whisper is something uttered by an actor in a play that may be heard by (all) the audience but for the sake of the story is not heard by other characters in the play. 2. No reason is offered why a "stage whisper is done in a way which sounds false:" this is particularly relevant when we agree deception is not implicit in a stage whisper.  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > > The thesaurus has let me down! > > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > which sounds false:" this is particularly relevant when we agree > deception is not implicit in a stage whisper. There's also the BBC Radio Whisper. This started on Radio 3 as a way of excluding The Wrong Sort of Listener, but only a few of them still do it all the time: they do, however, drop to a whisper at the end of each sentence to exclude anybody ghastly enough to be listening in the car, the bathroom, or the kitchen. Whispering on radio has the added advantage of getting the microphone gain turned up, thus emphasising all the broadcaster's lip-smacking, gulps of air, and catarrh, as well as our language's unfortunate and anti-poetic excess of sibilants. There's one science programme on Radio 4 which can be identified instantly by the presenter's constant snuffling: he sounds like an English-speaking badger. -- Mike. > apparently private conversion but they want to be overheard in order to > put false ideas into a listener's head? I'd just call it a staged conversation. ¬R > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > TIA It's basically a con-job isn't it? > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > TIA A planted whisper? An overt whisper? An overtly planted whisper? On Jul 24, 6:39�am, aquachimp <aquach...@aquachimp.freeserve.co.uk> wrote: > > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > An overt whisper? > An overtly planted whisper? A misleading whisper? A misleading aside? In article <bff85606-c032-419a-8dae-c3653cddcc24@l2g2000vba.googlegroups.com>, > On Jul 24, 6:39?am, aquachimp <aquach...@aquachimp.freeserve.co.uk> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > A misleading whisper? > A misleading aside? The participants in the conversation seem to be acting as shills, so what they're doing might be called "shilling". SignatureOdysseus > Arcadian Rises wrote: >>>> The thesaurus has let me down! >>>> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > The participants in the conversation seem to be acting as shills, so > what they're doing might be called "shilling". Is that your twelve-pence-worth? SignatureSkitt (AmE) > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > sounds false. Also the stage whisper is different because it is usually > done to inform (rather than deceive) the listener. It might help us if you could give us more background. Are you talking about theatrical drama (where, what sort), or Hollywood scriptwriting, or con artists (criminals), or what? SignatureBest wishes -- Donna Richoux > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > sounds false. Also the stage whisper is different because it is usually > done to inform (rather than deceive) the listener. I'd stick with "stage whisper" if I were you. It's an everyday phrase used in English without any necessary theatre context. Signatureathel On Jul 24, 10:34�am, Athel Cornish-Bowden <athel...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > I'd stick with "stage whisper" if I were you. It's an everyday phrase > used in English without any necessary theatre context. Isn't a "stage whisper" called "aside"? [...] > Isn't a "stage whisper" called "aside"? No, an aside, supposed not to be heard by the other characters, can be at normal volume; and a stage whisper may well be directed to another character. -- Mike. > > The thesaurus has let me down! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > I'd stick with "stage whisper" if I were you. It's an everyday phrase > used in English without any necessary theatre context. But what he's describing isn't necessarily a whisper, and it can't be a stage whisper. As he says, a stage whisper is immediately recognized as false. I like Glenn's suggestion of "staged conversation". -- Jerry Friedman |
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