|
Education Plus
What is the meaning of vox populi?
(T. Uma, Chennai)
First, let’s deal with the pronunciation of this Latin expression. ‘Vox’ rhymes with ‘pox’, ‘socks’, and ‘fox’, and the first syllable of ‘populi’ rhymes with ‘hop’ and ‘top’. The following ‘u’ sounds like the ‘u’ in ‘useful’ and ‘united’, while the final ‘i’ is like the ‘ee’ in ‘seed’, ‘feed’, and ‘need’. It is also possible to pronounce the final ‘i’ like the ‘y’ in ‘by’ and ‘my’.
The word is pronounced ‘vox popyulee” with the main stress on the first syllable of ‘populi’. The expression means ‘voice of the people’, and it is often reduced to ‘vox pop’ or ‘vox pops’.
The vox pop technique is normally used in radio and television broadcasting. Every day on the various news channels, we see reporters interviewing people on the street. They ask the common man to give their opinion about something. ‘What do you think of the budget’ or ‘Do you like Dhoni’s new hairstyle?’ This method of recording the opinions of people talking informally in public places is called vox populi or vox pop.
*To make the programme interesting you need vox pop.
“When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators.”
— P. J. Rourke
S. UPENDRAN
upendrankye@gmail.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
|
