September 25 2007: Lip Singing
Filed under Online
This is very petty, but is something that has seriously been pissing me off the past few days.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of blog-hopping (the result of a week off university), and thus have discovered a few new blogs. None are quite ’special’ enough to speak of or frequently visit, but most have one thing in common - they’ve all blogged about Britney VMA’s performance.
The amazing thing is, they’ve all used the term “lip singing” when describing the performance.
For the record, it’s lip synching, where lips move in time to the music in an imitation of live singing. And while I’m not an expert, I do know enough about basic anatomical functions to know that lips don’t sing. Vocal cords sing. Lips don’t.
If you’re going to insult and deride someone’s performance, it might make more sense to ensure that you don’t look like an idiot while doing it. Because inevitably, a big meanie like me is going to point at you and laugh at your lip singing.
20 Responses to “Lip Singing”
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The production of speech is much more complicated than simply using the vocal cords.
But yes, lip singing is incorrect terminology.
Jennifer on September 25 2007 #
Oy…
This is just another example of a list of idiotic phrase bastardization due to semi-illiterate teenagers - or, at the very least, some EXTREMELY CONFUSED ones. Our local paper did an article on it and included a lot of examples, some of which you might find amusing:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070923/NEWS/70922008
Leila on September 25 2007 #
LOL You must be blog-hopping to the same blogs as me as I have seen at least 4 as well, writing it like “lip singing”.
Bobbi-lee on September 25 2007 #
See how many blogs out there write it like that http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22lip+singing%22+britney&btnG=Search+Blogs
It’s a disgrace, I don’t know how one can confuse sync with sing
Bobbi-lee on September 25 2007 #
Ha ha, when I saw your link to this entry on Snark, my first thought was, “it’s synching!”
Um, yeah, it bugs me. But what bugs me more is that it is such big news.
Aisling on September 25 2007 #
lol, and I thought it was just people in French who had deformed the word! Like Aisling, my first thought was also “synch, not sing!” That said, I need to watch said performance.
Julie on September 25 2007 #
It bugs me enough to see people blogging about the same thing and all related to some celebrity. They talk about the exact same things with the exact same OMG emotions but at least they can all relate to each other now, I guess.
Rilla on September 25 2007 #
I want to see someone’s lips singing. :)
Kycoo on September 25 2007 #
Ahh, people these days. They should be lynched for getting synched wrong ;o
Even Wiki knows about this stupidity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_sync
Kaylee on September 25 2007 #
LOL. The term doesn’t bother me as much, but on second thought… I think it’s just because it looks like she’s not really opening her entire mouth to sing, just flapping her lips around so the sound quality is less than superb. It actually didn’t occur to me that people would get “lip synching” mixed up with “lip singing”!
Chantelle on September 25 2007 #
This might be a lost cause. :( Most Americans say “lip singing.” They’ve made an idiom out of it. Depending on where you are, if you were to say, “lip synching,” your response might be, “Oh - what? Oh, you mean lip singing.”
Chantelle on September 25 2007 #
Speaking of things that don’t make sound but have said to make sure, another popular phrasing is “the voice spoke”. Voices don’t speak. Such an error was one amongst many in Dan Brown’s “the Da Vinci Code”. More analysis here
Belinda on September 25 2007 #
I want my lips to be able to sing! Gee whiz!
Haha, things like that annoy me too…
Retti on September 25 2007 #
Lip singing? Haha
I was looking at a website a week ago because I was to look up stuff about dependent clauses, etc. and it spelled dependent wrong! (it was spelled as dependant) Tsk tsk…
Felisa on September 25 2007 #
I thought Britney was long gone and never to return… I guess I am out of the loop entirely. She can sing too? I am amazed.
Nan on September 25 2007 #
Them blogging about Britney is annoying anyway. It’s like the world is not only waiting for her to fail, but they want her to, to continue their mindless entertainment.
So huzzah to lip synching and to Britney getting things together eventually. :P
Amber on September 25 2007 #
Well, it technically makes sense if you take “lip singing” to mean mouthing the words, which is exactly what lip synching is…
Jordie on September 25 2007 #
I saw the URL and wondered what the holy fuck you were on about. I’ve not heard of lip singing before. :|
I’m obviously not hopping the right blogs.
Jem on September 25 2007 #
Lip singing? I, who have English as a second language, wouldn’t use “lip singing” hehe :P
Malin on September 26 2007 #
Lip singing? I’ve heard it all now. I read it on one blog and just put it down to a simple typo!
Melissa on October 1 2007 #