Just this morning, I was discussing the fact that I have a large number of distant friends. I was discussing it, in fact, with a number of those very distant friends. The internet has made this a far smaller world in many ways, and it’s enabled me to meet and communicate with people in all corners of the globe. Of course, globes have no corners, but for the moment we will thumb our noses at Euclid and not digress.

The friends with whom I had this deep discussion all happened to be located in various parts of Britain. The comment was made that one young lady had a very interesting northern accent, and I mentioned how ironic it was that I’d known them all for years, but that I’d never heard any of them speak.

Mort suddenly offered the idea of everyone recording themselves speaking. Simon took it a step further by suggesting making a game of it. He’d receive all the recordings, strip them of any easily identifiable information, and present them to me. I would then attempt to associate the voices with their owners. The idea was an immediate hit with all present, and I’m eagerly accepting the challenge. It sounds like great fun!

Consider this, then, an open invitation to anyone with a voice and the ability and willingness to record it. Simply record yourself reading the following paragraph:

The invention of the process of printing from movable type, which occurred in Germany about the middle of the fifteenth century, was destined to exercise a far-reaching influence on all the vernacular languages of Europe. Introduced into England about 1476 by William Caxton, who had learned the art on the continent, printing made such rapid progress that a scant century later it was observed that manuscript books were seldom to be met with and almost never used.

To give me a fair chance, please don’t disguise your voice or accent. Just read the text naturally in your normal manner of speaking. When you’re done, send the file (preferably in mp3 format to save bandwidth) to Simon (mokey@simong.org). He’ll send them my way anonymously.

Fair is fair, so you can hear me reading the same text here.

This is going to be really fascinating. Thanks to all who participate!

I’m turning comments off for this post so that no one accidentally posts something that might serve as a hint.

When I’ve got voices, I’ll post them by number, anonymously, in a separate blog with comments also turned off. A lot of you know each other. Don’t give anyone away!