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June 11, 2002
Uh, like, whatever...
When I was in 5th and 6th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Nelson, had a method of teaching better public speaking. There were certain words and phrases, for example "um" or "announcement" which would cause the whole class to break out into a song taunting the speaker for the specific error. In theory, it makde you choose your words more carefully. No one, including other teachers or the principal, escaped.
In high school, I spent my summers at debate camp (one important step cooler than math camp, from what I can gather). At one camp, if we said "um", we had to start a speech over. Even if we were seven minutes into an eight minute speech. Word-economy was the theme.
In spite of all of this, I still say "um" with some regularity. And I consider myself a pretty good public speaker. Now psychologists have decided it's OK to say "um". Whew.
+ Psychologists Say 'Um' and 'Uh' Have Meaning
Posted by buddha at June 11, 2002 05:45 PM
Comments
Uh, um, like wow. I just read that article and then clicked my handy bookmark link to JuBu and voila you are talking about the article I just read. Weird Brain share. I was going to post the link to shoepal, but now it seems unnecessary.
I think I want to be a linguist. A cunning linguist at that!
But seriously. Like, really, I do.
Oh, and bummer about that starting over of an 8 minute speech. That sucks. If you had been from the Valley they would have required that you use at least 42 instances of the word "like" or you would fail.
And yes Debate Camp is slightly cooler than Math camp. At least in my eyes. Not that I was cool enough to go to either camp.
Posted by: shoop at June 11, 2002 11:00 PM
The thing is, the only news in this is the scientific approach. Learning and teaching foreign languages demonstrates the importance of these things really quick.
Also, there was a study done sometime back that showed pauses and stutters made conversation easier to understand. Don't think it applied to public speaking though.
Posted by: Jason at June 12, 2002 12:34 AM
Jason, I remember reading about that study as well. The uh and um give the listener time to process what the speaker is saying. Or something like that.
Posted by: shoop at June 12, 2002 01:40 AM
I'm curious which came first... Have listeners evolved an understanding of those words because they recognize the pattern of hesitation, etc.? Or do speakers use them because listeners will understand them? If it's the former, then any understanding doesn't change the fact that at a basic level, they still represent the speaker flubbing whatever he is trying to say.
Posted by: dan at June 12, 2002 02:17 AM
Very interesting comment, Dan, but I'm way too tired to think about it.
Posted by: Jason at June 12, 2002 02:23 PM
Did you ever notice that Nirav _never_ says Um or Uh or pauses in his speech? He doesn't blink very much either. All of this makes him very effective in speeches and on TV.
Posted by: Troutgirl at June 13, 2002 12:39 PM
I've noticed that he very rarely pauses when speaking to a group. He's an excellent speaker. But he's also on autopilot a lot of the time.
The first day I met Nirav, he was talking at an all-hands meeting about how he had just come back from a speaking tour (Oct. 99 or so). By the end of the tour, he had given the Epinions schpiel so many times, he could just get in the zone and give the presentation perfectly to a group of 800 businessmen and still be detached enough from what he was saying to be making mental notes about who was in the audience and what they were responding to.
Posted by: dan at June 13, 2002 01:31 PM
The thing that makes Nirav unusual is that there's no difference between his "I'm giving a speech" style and his "I'm chatting with you in the kitchen" style.
Posted by: Troutgirl at June 13, 2002 02:16 PM
I've always felt that Nirav doesn't really listen anywhere near as well as he speaks. Maybe our conversation platforms are incompatible.
Actually, I don't think I have ever had a significant or enjoyable conversation with any SU grads.
Posted by: shoop at June 13, 2002 02:47 PM
Sorry, shoop.... I'm not taking the bait. just because some SU grads can be vapid and insipid doesn't mean they all are.
Posted by: dan at June 13, 2002 08:59 PM
Can you major in Vapid and Insipid at SU? Imagine the socratic dialog.
I honestly wasn't baiting(.org) you. But, you do get points for the V and I reference. Double points if you can name the movie.
Man. This is turning into JubuFilter.com. BuddhaFi. MetaBu. MetaJubuPal.
Posted by: shoop at June 14, 2002 12:09 AM
Now I feel silly... I didn't realize it was from a movie. I thought it was just from a little slice of our lives.
Posted by: dan at June 14, 2002 01:59 AM
We are living the movie. Just play along. Don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.
1) One of my favorite lines in Cruel Intentions is when Sebastian states he is "bored of sleeping with these insipid Manhattan debutantes"
2) "Vapid" was Teresa's contribution upon meeting a particular SU grad. Nail meet head.
3) I combined the two for our own little movie and voila, the birth of an inside reference.
Judging by a quick googling for "Vapid and Insipid" they do go quite well together.
Though, I suppose it's not as fun after it's been deconstructed. Seems appropriate that this all started with an article about "um" and "uh."
This has been fun. Perhaps we should get to work on the JuPalFilter.com
Posted by: shoop at June 14, 2002 11:50 PM
Cruel Intentions is such a good bad movie. ;-) I recognize the line, but I had always credited To with the "vapid & insipid" pairing.
Posted by: dan at June 15, 2002 01:03 AM