Feb 5, 2005 12:36
19 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term
The police in different voices
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
I am trying to trace the origin of this expression.
I know that it was the working title of T.S.Eliot's "Waste Land" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land) but I need to know who used it first, as I have found a reference to it in a text about the late 19th Century (i.e. before Eliot).
I know that it was the working title of T.S.Eliot's "Waste Land" (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waste_Land) but I need to know who used it first, as I have found a reference to it in a text about the late 19th Century (i.e. before Eliot).
Responses
| 4 +4 | Dickens |
Jeannie Graham
|
| 4 +1 | NFG |
Richard Benham
|
| 3 | Post-grading background info |
Kim Metzger
|
Responses
+4
4 mins
Jeannie Graham
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
United Kingdom
Literary and medical translations
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Persian (Farsi) to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
Dickens
..... V. S. Pritchett's description of Eliot as "a company of actors inside one suit, each twitting the others." Eliot's manuscript title for the poem was "He Do the Police in Different Voices" -- an allusion to Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, where Sloppy describes himself able "to give Mrs Higden the Police-news in different voices."
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Kim Metzger
: http://www.memphisinternational.com/index.php?target=mutml&m...
8 mins
|
| agree |
Anna Maria Augustine (X)
9 mins
|
| agree |
Richard Benham
: I see Kim has found also the exact quote "He do the police in different voices".
14 mins
|
| agree |
Misiaczek
16 mins
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I am really impressed by the speed of all answers. I accept this answer as being the first to arrive. Thanks a lot!"
+1
10 mins
Richard Benham
France
France
Native in English
&
English
France
When quality counts
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
24
NFG
Kalimeh got in first, and I have no desire to steal her points. But I found another attribution to Dickens, with a quote including the exact words. Here it is; the URL is below.
Eliot’s long poem was originally entitled He Do the Police in Different Voices, which comes from a line in Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend: ‘Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the police in different voices.’
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Note added at 12 mins (2005-02-05 12:49:10 GMT)
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BTW, the name \"Sloppy\" itself may be a reference to the police. \"Slop\" was a back-slang word for \"police\" (\"ecilop\", pronounce, ahh, sloppily, is \"slop\").
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Note added at 13 mins (2005-02-05 12:49:55 GMT)
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Sorry, \"pronounced\"--now who\'s getting Sloppy!
Eliot’s long poem was originally entitled He Do the Police in Different Voices, which comes from a line in Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend: ‘Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the police in different voices.’
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2005-02-05 12:49:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
BTW, the name \"Sloppy\" itself may be a reference to the police. \"Slop\" was a back-slang word for \"police\" (\"ecilop\", pronounce, ahh, sloppily, is \"slop\").
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 mins (2005-02-05 12:49:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Sorry, \"pronounced\"--now who\'s getting Sloppy!
Reference:
14 hrs
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
277
Post-grading background info
I just wanted to add one explanation of what the phrase actually means:
___
Certainly the original working title, "He Do the Police in Different Voices," implies the presence of a single speaker in the poem who is gifted at "taking off" the voices of others--just as the foundling named Sloppy in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend is, according to the doubtless biased and doting Betty Higden, "a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the police in different voices." This speaker has a flair for tones of criminality, sensationalism, and outrage--the whole gamut of abjection and judgment; or so the title...
http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=2693
___
Certainly the original working title, "He Do the Police in Different Voices," implies the presence of a single speaker in the poem who is gifted at "taking off" the voices of others--just as the foundling named Sloppy in Dickens's Our Mutual Friend is, according to the doubtless biased and doting Betty Higden, "a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the police in different voices." This speaker has a flair for tones of criminality, sensationalism, and outrage--the whole gamut of abjection and judgment; or so the title...
http://www.123helpme.com/preview.asp?id=2693
Discussion
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/mfrnd10.txt