Use Your Words. Or, Buy a Consonant and Ditch the Upspeak

“Use your words” is one of those new parenting phrases that I find annoyingly precious. It’s right up there with “Who needs a time out?” But then I was raised on “Because I said so” in a house with an actual woodshed.

“Use your words,” however, has run through my head on more than one professional occasion. I cannot count the number of times I have listened to an adult who cannot verbally communicate with credible authority. In addition to an addiction to “like” and “you know,” their words and sentences run together so fast, you’d swear they were being paid by the word:
“OhmyGodyouknowhwatwouldbereallycoolwouldbelikeifwecouldgetabandtoyouknowplayastheyunveiltheproductonyou-knowthelikeactualstepsofthebuildingwhen-peoplearegoingtolikework?”

I hear this and I think, who invited Moon Zappa? While this highly caffeinated idea spewing is irritating, so is the slacker approach.

“Prolly the bes thing wuh be… uh… ya know, like maybe… ih we gotta ban ta play.”

Why don’t you and Jeff Spicoli go flesh this out and get back to me, okay?

Perhaps the most credibility sapping of all poor speech patterns is something called upspeak. Upspeak turns all declarative sentences into questions.

“It would be really great? If we could get a band to play on the steps? As we unveiled the product? When people are actually going to work?

When I hear this, I want to call a halt to the proceedings and demand, “Are you asking or telling us? Because from the tone of your voice, it sounds to me like you have no idea what you’re talking about, that you’re grasping at ideas and looking to the rest of us for validation.”

Of course I don’t say this. Usually. But I think it – and I’m sure others do too.

Elocution is an old fashioned word. It calls to mind the “one Grecian urn” scene from The Music Man. But authoritative, intelligent, verbal communication is needed in the modern world. One should have not only a facility with language but also an ability to speak clearly and intelligibly.

If you think you need help with your verbal communication skills, do yourself a favor and call a communications professional.

And don’t forget to use your words.

Felicia Knight is President of Knight Vision International, LLC

Image by pa1nt

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, September 19th, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Public Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


Comments are closed.

«
»