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Better English 31
Timely Communications Tips
June 9, 2009
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PICKING UP SLACK
-- DON'T SAY "THANK YOU"
-- KIDS CAN WRITE!

Since I missed a couple of weeks because of personal projects, I've decided to catch up with more frequent messages.

Writing about a speech technique reminds me of a story that circulated at the Chase Manhattan Bank that I'll use in "No, I'm Not David."

President David Rockefeller, practicing his delivery, exclaimed, "And that is true from Terre Haute to Tehran."

But his coach pointed out that the president had mispronounced the city in Indiana. The 't' in Haute is silent.

"Oh," responded Mr. Rockefeller. "I'm afraid I'm more familiar with Tehran."


DON'T SAY "THANK YOU"
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President Barack Obama's address in Cairo was a masterly achievement. But he did end by saying "thank you," a practice many speech experts discourage.

First, why are you thanking people for listening to you? If you have shared your wisdom and intelligence, and given them information and entertainment, why shouldn't the audience thank you? That's what my speech instructor always declared.

And how many hours of sleep did the president's speechwriters lose? How many times did the president read, re-read, and edit his talk? While all of this preparatory activity is going on, the audience-to-be is sound asleep somewhere.

The audience sits for an hour to listen and learn. The speaker has spent hours preparing for that hour. And then he should thank the audience for listening?

A Case of Manners???

At the Yahoo Answers web site before writing this, I saw many observers declare that the practice was "just good manners," and was "polite." It's also polite when my wife says "thank you" to the attendant who takes her dollar at the toll booth. But it's neither necessary nor good manners to thank someone for taking your money. After you pay your bill at an expensive Marriott, they should be thanking you.

History Says No Thank You

One observer of orators wrote that the best speakers don't end their speeches with what he calls the "perfunctory" or "mundane" thank-you. In fact, he maintains that of the 217 speeches in William Safire's anthology, "Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History," only seven of them conclude with "thank you."

In Rochester, NY, Frederick Douglas ended his remarkable July 5, 1852 proclamation, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" with this phrase, "for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival."

Here is the ending of Abraham Lincoln's address at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863: ";and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended his inaugural address on March 12, 1933 with this: "May He guide me in the weeks to come."

And Booker T. Washington, receiving an honorary degree from Harvard in 1896, ended his acceptance with, "that pure sunshine, where it will be our highest ambition to serve man, our brother, regardless of race or previous condition."


KIDS CAN WRITE!
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We just published some remarkable essays by children ages eight to eighteen. Click here to see the amazing collection.

Yours Sincerely,
Barry Beckhkam


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