lydecker Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Sorry, but I just have to laugh out loud every time I hear the line in the Gary Cooper tribute by his daughter about her father being a man of "little words." I believe what is actually meant is "few words," NOT "little words." Otherwise, she is saying Gary is a man who only uses "little words" like: "to," "the," "and", "a," it," etc. Poor Gary. Those 2 syllable words must kill him. Not sure who is the illiterate here. The writer who wrote the Gary Cooper tribute script or his daughter who voiced it? My money is on the writer who clearly does not know the difference between the meaning of "a man of few words" (someone who is not a talker, someone not overly verbose) and "a man of little words" (someone who only uses 2-3 letter words.) Sigh. The English Language Butchered Once Again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 > {quote:title=lydecker wrote:}{quote}Sorry, but I just have to laugh out loud every time I hear the line in the Gary Cooper tribute > by his daughter about her father being a man of "little words." Well, he was known for saying "yup." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 >Sigh. The English Language Butchered Once Again. I agree. It's such a beleagared language it's only managaed to become the most widespread, important, vital, and powerful langauage the human race has ever spoken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Well, she could've meant that he used words on behalf of the 'little' people...sort of like a real-life Longfellow Deeds or John Doe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori3 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I love it lydecker! Thank you for bring this to our attention. Lori Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clore Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 "My father reads a little bit Little words like 'if' and 'it' But my father can read big words too Like Constantinople and Timbuktu" With apologies to Dr. Seuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Since you call yorself "Lydecker", I'm sure you can appreciate that Cooper, in his roles, did not use multisyllable words to the extent that Clifton Webb did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Gary Coopper "A man of LITTLE words"? A-yup! Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I want to address something in this thread that is bothering me. I know that the original post was in reference to a comment made by Mr. Cooper's daughter in a promo, but responses have gone the direction of saying that Coop was a one-word sort of guy. False. In some of his films, he has rather lengthy speeches. If we dissect all of his scripts and add all the lines, we will see that over the years he had plenty of dialogue to remember and deliver in front of the camera. It is time to do away with the myth that he was a mono-syllabic performer. What an insult that is to his incredible array of literate performances. I want to make sure that young people or even older people new to classic film and Coop's career do not get the wrong impression of him as some sort of yokel. We need to watch how we are portraying him and perpetuating a myth of dumbness or plainness about him. It's highly incorrect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo2 Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Very true, TB. In fact, take yesterday's showing of Ball of Fire on Essentials Jr. and when Cooper effectively plays a grammarian in it. There's certainly a lot of multisyllabic dialogue he must deliver in this film. I think the primary reason many if not most people might remember him best as this "Man of Few Words" type is because he was one of the all time best film actors to be able to express his character's thoughts and feelings with just the right certain look on his face. You didn't have to hear some long drawn-out "soliloquy" from the guy to be able to know exactly what was on his character's mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 >he was one of the all time best film actors to be able to express his character's thoughts and feelings with just the right certain look on his face. And honestly, I think that is from his training in the silent film era. It gave him a distinct advantage over someone like Clark Gable. Coop understood the poetic quality of cinema, better than most popular leading men of the classic studio era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 Lol, pointing out something as small as that in this day of text messaging? To start off, heaven only knows how many errors I have made. Look at our substandard school system that is doing away with pencil and paper. Our kids will be lucky to be able to sign their own names. You need to observe the world around you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 I hear ya about the general lack of care (to be kind about it) regarding spelling, punctuation and correct usage of words in today's world. Doesn't make it any easier to see and hear. I just find it amazing that a high profile promo like the one done for Gary Cooper (ALL THOSE YEARS AGO but I refuse to return to the "TCM barely ever creates new documentaries, tributes, promos, etc." topic -- at least not today!) could get through the approval process with such a glaring error as "Man of Little Words." Good Lord. Gary Cooper's daughter should have caught it when she was asked to record it. She was educated "back in the day" when schools actually cared about such things. Now, if just once, someone could get "its" and it's" right, it would rock my world. (Maybe.) Lydecker Not in Hollywood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 He may have said a lot, but he was rarely portrayed as an intellectual. Even in MEET JOHN DOE, where his dialogue was extensive, he labelled himself as a "mug". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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