Silly Voices

[jducoeur]

I'm very fond of the Teaching Company courses, really I am. But in the interests of truth in advertising, I have to admit that they're sometimes an oddly mixed bag.

I'm currently in the middle of Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, which is a mammoth course, taught by a tag-team of something like a dozen professors. (This is the only course I have that mixes so many people.) One of them, who is teaching much of the Age of Reason, has a style that can best be described as a mix of:

• Pedantry worthy of a Silverwing (making every point several times, to make sure you get it);


• The speaking style of William Shatner (well, not quite, but Emphasizing... Every... Word... Clearly... and with Force!);


• and the voice of Fran Dressher (you know, that intense nasality that even I, a native New Joiseyan, fortunately can't emulate).

He's not a bad teacher, but it's just a little difficult to take him seriously, since his speaking style is almost Pythonesque in how odd it is...