I notice that people used to speak not necessarily more clearly, or distinctly, but their voice had a certain ‘choppiness’ to it that you don’t hear anymore… Unless the person doing the speaking is doing it purposefully to sound old-timey. (Think of the narrator in the movie UP by pixar)
Here is an example of the speech type I am talking about:
President Eisenhower ~1964https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cadillacsquareexcerpt.ogg
Here, in a 1950s newsreel, the newsman is speaking this way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2lYjgLwtII
It doesn’t seem to be limited to just the United States either:
Various Newsreels – 1950s Germany, England, USA 220857-04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wW9CvJxuh8I know that it can be attributed to ‘times change’, but I would just like to know why public speakers, and news anchors, etc have started using ‘normal’ sounding speech. It is somewhat of a shame this type of speech is slowly going away. The last place I currently hear speech of this type is during baseball games.
Answer
I think what you’re referring to is “diction” – and the reason it’s more apparent in old movies (and such) is because it used to actually be part of a child’s education (public and private schools) to learn how to speak properly.
Since the wealthier class was better educated,knowing how to express oneself gracefully was thought to be a way to bridge the gap (socially and in the workplace) between the classes.
Now that “education” is such a loose term, and there’s so much “rich trash” running around, the way you speak says much less about your income and prospects.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : CarComp , Answer Author : Oldbag
