Re: Proto-Romance

Ph.D. wrote:

> Andreas Johansson wrote:
> >
> > Subtitles are pretty common even with programmes in Swedish,
> > but that's for the benefit of people with impaired hearing.
>
> In North America, we have something called "closed captioning."
> This is subtitling which can be turned on and off. Almost all shows
> are broadcast with this. Originally a special device was attached
> to a television for this, but I believe newer televisions have it
built-in.
> It was originally intended for the hearing impaired, but it's now
> common to see it in use in noisy places such as bars.
>
Evidently, for live shows like newscasts and CNN's day-long stuff, there is
someone typing in the spoken words as fast as they can (I suppose rather
like a court reporter)---- and, quite often,  not very accurately-- I've
seen some real howlers, but alas, failed to note them for posterity.  During
the current hearings on CNN, I'll have to put my set on mute and see how the
subtitles fare...{evil grin}

Presumably scripted shows fare better.  Well, actually, maybe not-- I recall
that at a gym I used to go to, subtitles for the soap "Passions" and
intervening commercials were often just as screwy as the CNN feed on the
neighboring TV

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