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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." |
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DON'T SAY "THANK YOU" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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."
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KIDS CAN WRITE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We just published some remarkable essays by
children ages eight to eighteen. Click
here to see the amazing collection.
Yours Sincerely,
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