Oop - bppp -- they blocked it. I went to continue listening to Bob Woodward's new book on You Tube, and instead of the very talented narrator with the precise syllables, there was silence and a black rectangle with lettering in it saying this content "is blocked in your country."
Blocked in my country.
Hmmm -- I wonder which country I could travel to, to listen to that book free on You Tube...?
So I had to pick listening to James McCord's testimony during the 1973 Watergate hearings.
Mr. McCord has a speaking voice that's easy to listen to: a gentle Southern accent -- from Oklahoma, maybe? Or Missouri? Sam Ervin, chairman of that committee, has another kind of Southern accent, so the sounds of the proceedings are kind of melodious.
There are several spots in the testimony when a ripple of low-key laughter runs through the assembled listeners.
A couple of times I knew what was funny, & other times I wasn't sure -- if not listening closely enough, and thinking of other things, and doing other things, at the same time... you need the exact context, maybe, to see what they are finding humorous.
And part of it is, I think, that the people in the room were empathizing with James McCord -- he was a human being who had got himself into a dicey situation.
He mentions the time when others involved in the Watergate burglary threatened him. And he tells of being called at home and told to go to a phone booth on Route 355, by the Blue Fountain Inn, in Rockville, to receive a call.
One of the Watergate burglars was Eugenio Martinez. During the McCord testimony, one of the committee members refers to Mr. Martinez, pronouncing it "Marta - nez" with the accent on the first syllable:
MAR - ta - nezz.
Seems funny -- today, I think most Americans know to pronounce this surname
Mar - TEEN - ezz,
with the accent on the second syllable.
Back then, not everyone knew that.
_____________________________
On You Tube, type in
can I get a witness, the rolling stones
and play.
-30-
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