Dalek voice

English

Examples
Recording of a Dalek voice (file)

Etymology

After the Daleks on the British science-fiction programme Doctor Who, where they spoke with an electronically modulated voice.

Noun

Dalek voice (plural Dalek voices)

1. Harsh, throaty, staccato, monotone voice.
   • 1982, Jakov Lind, Travels to the Enu: Story of a Shipwreck, page 60:

     Burk replied in his husky Dalek voice without looking at the King but also without any trepidation: 'I was christened Herbert Burk.'

   • 1984, Eileen Dewhurst, The House that Jack Built, page 40:

     And it was something just to have it to look forward to, to think about instead of thinking about the Dalek voice. I have your notebook.

   • 1985, Punch, 288: 11:

     […] eyes and a Dalek voice, and its dreadful polished face keeps swivelling towards me; it is an iron Archie Andrews, but I do not have to make it speak.

   • 1988, New Scientist, 118: 79:

     "Now press button A," a Dalek voice tells someone who is trying to set the video recorder to tape a TV programme for later viewing.

   • 1994, Buddhist Society (London, England), The Middle Way, volumes 69-70, page 120

     Sometimes one seems to hear it being read out by a dalek-voice

   • 1997, Bruno MacDonald, Pink Floyd: through the eyes of...the band, its fans, friends, and foes, page 310:

     You know, this Dalek voice says, "The-bonnet's-open, you-are-low-on-fuel, the-engine-tem-perature-is-high, we're-not-going-to-make-it-on-this-one-Nick, we'll-be-walking-after-this-corner."

   • 1998, Fred Inglis, Raymond Williams, page 260:

     Many questions were literary concoctions, edited from conversation into rather stiff print (One review referred to our 'Dalek voice'.)

   • 2004, Graham Lord, Niv: the authorized biography of David Niven, page 240:

     Hawkins was to have a device implanted in his throat to help him speak in a 'strange Dalek voice ', as his wife put it, but the operation gave him another seven years of life.

   • 2005, P. D. Shelley, Sugar and Spice, page 171:

     Is your name Oscar Lois Anderson?' Her Dalek voice echoed eerily through the black emptiness of the warehouse.

   • 2005, Tim Heald, Death and the D'Urbervilles, page 244:

     'This is she,' said the Dalek voice. 'Good evening,' said Tudor, 'it's Tudor Cornwall, University of Wessex.'

   • 2008, Rick Snoman, Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys and Techniques, page 121:

     The Dalek voice isn't just for Dr Who fans as it can be used in place of a vocoder to produce more metallic style voices that are suitable for use in any dance genre.

Related terms

• Dalek

See also

• Dalek on Wikipedia.Wikipedia