Read a book -- you'll be a better speaker

Have you ever heard the expression, "It's a doggy dog world?"

Have you ever heard someone say, "For all intensive purposes?"

How about "Nip it in the butt" or "A mute point" or "Take it for granite?"

There are plenty of egregiously misquoted expressions in writing, but I'm specifically referring to spoken words here, the kinds of things you hear people say out loud and that cause you to cringe at their ignorance.

I'm not being a language snob here. There's a correct way to say all of those phrases, and if you're misquoting them onstage, your audience will cringe as well.

I understand the reason these expressions are misquoted is that the person saying them has never seen them written out. "Dog-eat-dog" world sounds like "Doggy dog world" (although it makes no sense in context) if you've never seen it in writing.

These kooky sayings have been passed on through word of mouth and, more recently, through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other editor-free Wild West frontiers of the Web.

How do you remedy this? How do you ensure that your grammar, pronunciation, and expression of the English language don't end up causing you embarrassment? (Nonnative English speakers: I don't expect this from you. Only from people who have been born and raised in the United States and should know better.)

Read.

I don't care what you read. Read cookbooks. Read novels. Read magazines. Read newspapers.

Click photo to expand. Thanks for this pic, rocket ship!

The Internet doesn't count, by the way. The Web is full of poorly edited content that perpetuates the unfortunate repetition of expressions like "Wah-lah!" instead of "Voila!"

Preferably read something in print, published by a legitimate publisher who pays copy editors to make sure the English language is not butchered.

When you read, you will see these words and expressions spelled out instead of guessing at what the words might be when you hear them.

Okay, I am a language snob. I admit it. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong, or that if enough people say "doggy dog world" it's miraculously going to become correct.

Do you want your audience to find you credible, knowledgeable and authoritative? Then you better make sure your spoken grammar, pronunciation and understanding of the English language are up to par.

Are there some misquoted sayings that drive you crazy? Feel free to share in the comments!

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Let's make our own fresh expressions

Photo by goenetix

I recently started a thread on Facebook with this comment:

"Here's another marketing term I'm sick of: 'Pulling [some say 'peeling'] back the curtain.' I get the concept here, but can't you think of a different way to say it? I have e-mails from SEVEN different coaches right now using this expression in their sales copy. Come on, be original!"

And a couple of days before that:

"It's official. I'm sick of the term 'juicy' to describe anything but food (okay, 'juicy details' is still acceptable). My inbox is full of Internet marketers calling their workshops and content 'juicy,' their info 'juicy,' and their conversations 'juicy.' They're not. They're NOT JUICY. So stop it!"

(Maybe I get a little too bent out of shape, but I subscribe to a lot of newsletters, and it gets really old.)

We all have our gripes about the way others use the English language: clichés, overused buzzwords, poor grammar and spelling, etc. And any time something like this comes up in a discussion forum or social media thread, it's inevitable that the comments will be endless and scathing.

So I want to propose something different here. Let's actually come up with some fresh alternate expressions. Right here in the comments.

I decided, in response to a networking group discussion about the topic "Is the elevator pitch dead?" to start using the phrase "professional introduction" instead of "elevator speech," which seems outdated and inaccurate to me.

I'm posting a couple of expressions and words below that came up in the Facebook discussions as generally annoying and overused. Can you think of a better, more interesting, or more compelling way to say the same thing? Let's put our creative brains to the test!

1. Pulling back the curtain

Some of the comments on Facebook actually found this to be a perplexing expression, since most of us grew up with The Wizard of Oz, and pulling back the curtain to expose the charlatan behind it is not a good business reference. However, what they really mean is "Reveal the secrets to running a successful business." That kind of pulling back the curtain.

2. Juicy (for anything not food-related)

3. Yummy (for anything not food-related... typically about something luxurious like fabric or yarn, but I've seen it used even further out of context)

4. Submit your burning questions

5. Explode (as in, "Your business will explode," or "Explode your profits!")

6. Epic (kind of reminds me of surfer talk, like "gnarly")

7. Irresistible

And a few tried and true that are just a bit stale:

8. "For less than the price of a cup of coffee per month, you can join (donate, help, etc.)"

9. Stay tuned

Any you'd like to add? Feel free! (And here's a blog post by Lisa Stewart specifically on the use of "yummy.")

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Lecture vs. presentation

I have a friend who recently presented a lecture at a conference. She's in a creative field where you would least expect to hear the word "lecture" come out of her mouth, yet that's what her presentation was called. A lecture.

I avoid this word, if at all possible, because I feel that it has negative connotations, and not just as a style of presenting.

I rarely do this in a blog post or presentation (it's a real amateur move to start a presentation with a dictionary definition), but in order to make my point, I looked up the word "lecture." There are two meanings of "lecture." One is about presenting: "a discourse given before an audience or class especially for instruction" or "a speech read or delivered before an audience or class, especially for instruction or to set forth some subject." The other is about reprimand: "a speech of warning or reproof as to conduct; a long, tedious reprimand" or "a formal reproof." The thesaurus shows everything from "address," "deliver" and "expound," to "harangue," "berate" and "preach."

Most of us have experienced both kinds of lectures, but the kind that sticks with me is the kind I got from my parents when I came home late or forgot to do my chores. That's the version of "lecture" that reverberates when I hear the word. When I think of the word "lecture," I literally think, "Don't lecture me."

A lecture really does combine the aspects of both a presentation and of a reprimand or reproof -- especially the tedious part. (A lecture and a lectern are just made for each other, by the way.) A lecture is a one-way spiel that doesn't invite audience interaction, assumes the speaker is the keeper of all the knowledge, and puts the speaker above the listeners. Just like when you got busted for not putting gas in the car, causing your dad to be late to work the next day.

Now, I understand that this is common terminology in academia: When you go to class, your professor doesn't give a presentation; your professor gives a lecture. And I would like to think that not all lectures meet the criteria of "long and tedious." But really, when you think of a lecture, do you think of audience involvement? Do you think of humor, good visuals, demonstrations, props, activities, dialogue and engagement? Me neither.

Lecture: I'd like to ban both the word and the act from the speaking world. Let's move away from lecture and toward presentation. Away from "expounding" and toward "conversing." Away from "holding forth" and toward "connecting."

Even as the province of angry parents trying to teach their teens a lesson, it rarely works.

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Don't distract: Contract!

In my post, Speaking from a script doesn't have to sound scripted, I neglected to mention a big red flag that you're sounding stilted and stiff: Missing contractions.

As writing is a more formal way to express ourselves, we tend to write without contractions. Therefore, in writing I might say, "I am" instead of "I'm" and "You are" instead of "You're."

However, if you speak like you write -- in this case, reading the full expression instead of the shortened one -- you come across as overly formal. That's not to say that you can't mix and match contractions with the written-out version of expressions. But speaking entirely without contractions sounds unnatural and will certainly peg you as reading straight from a script, in addition to becoming a distraction for the audience.

A perfect example of the awkward formality and distraction of spoken language without contractions was the recent remake of the movie "True Grit." The language in the movie is not contractionless, but it is pretty heavy on uncontracted words.

Watching this movie, you might have come to the conclusion that contractions were not a normal part of speech (at least by mercenaries and lawmen) in the late 1800s (which is how the language in the original True Grit novel by Charles Portis was portrayed, and then repeated by the Coen brothers in their version of the movie). This article, by Mark Liberman, disputes this and concludes that this dialogue was more an artistic choice than a faithful representation of 19th century speech.

Contractions comes naturally, it's customary in the English language to use them, and it's the way others expect to hear us speak.

If you're writing a speech, go through it sentence by sentence and see where you've left out contractions. You might find that leaving some words uncontracted allows for a stronger emphasis. If it makes sense, don't contract. Otherwise, make sure to convert most of your formal phrasing into contractions. And keep reading the speech aloud as you go to make sure you sound natural.

Remember: Written and spoken language are not the same thing. Make sure that, if you're going to be reading from a speech, that you've made sure to keep your language as natural-sounding as possible. Contractions have been around for hundreds of years, and they're here to stay, so use them!

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Titles a bore? Not any more!

I'm currently reading POP! Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline For Anything by Sam Horn, a book about crafting memorable titles, taglines and slogans. The book is full of creative exercises to come up with catchy names for everything from products to programs, and it reminded me of a clever joke I heard that appeared effortless in its spontaneity.

In the documentary "I Am Comic," Ritch Shydner is waiting in the wings to start his set at a comedy club. He's introduced by the emcee as "One of the pioneers of stand-up." Ritch turns to the camera with a look of astonishment, exclaims "Pioneer!" and bursts out laughing.

He makes his way onstage and tosses out this line: "Yes, one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy. Back in my day we had steam-driven microphones!"

Now, I can picture Ritch sitting there with his piece of paper, doing one of Sam Horn's exercises, one where you draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and make a list on either side of core words about your business, product or service.

In this case, I imagine Ritch using one side of the paper for words pioneer-related, such as "covered wagon," "homestead," or "buffalo," and the other side for words relating to comedians, like "club," "bit," and "joke." The magic combination: "Steam-driven microphone." But what's amazing is that Ritch does this all in his head in a matter of moments.

This is the message of POP! Once you get in the habit of thinking creatively, you will never be at a loss for clever word combinations. And another point: "This is not wordplay, this word profit." Coining an original word or phrase that gets the attention of prospects and media can make the difference between a presentation, product or service that languishes and one that soars to instant success.

If you (like me) have trouble coming up with creative titles and taglines for your presentations, your blog posts, your programs, consider picking up this book. It will change the way you think and give you practical tools to start capturing your audience's attention before you even walk in the door.

(I became paralyzed from the pressure of having to write a clever title for this post, just because I'm reading a book about how to write clever titles. I really need this book.)

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So... here's my tip of the day

A lot of people are bothered by the filler words "um" and "uh," but I'm noticing a far more distracting trend, which is the use of the word "so" to start a sentence.

I typically tell my clients that, unless their fillers are distracting and egregious, not to worry too much about them. After all, filler words are as much a part of communication as other words, according to Michael Erard in the book, "Um... Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean."

And the word "so" is not necessarily "bad" word. One of its main uses is as a conjunction, and it's meant to join two parts of a sentence together: for example, "I don't want to go, so I won't." (More examples of the conjunction "so" are here.) There are many proper uses of the word "so."

However, I'm noticing a lot of people using the word as a sort of conjunction, but as a transition between sentences. I notice a lot of speakers not only starting sentences with "so," but actually starting their entire presentations that way.

So... Here's my quick tip for today. You know how you've been practicing pausing instead of saying "um" in the middle of sentences? You can also practice pausing and silence at the beginning of sentences!

When you stand up to begin your presentation, don't start until you're ready. Ground yourself, then start speaking, with the engaging opening you've prepared and without saying "so" in front of it.

When you find yourself at the end of a sentence during a presentation, let it be the end. If you intend to use a conjunction, like "This happened, so now that will happen," that's fine. But if you are at the end of the sentence, let it lie. Pause, then start your next sentence.

Like any filler, if you use "so" occasionally, it's not a big deal. But make sure you are videotaping yourself or getting feedback from colleagues so ("in order that" -- another correct use of "so") you can find out if you are using the word to a degree that it has become noticeable and distracting.

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Is your vocab in a rut?

Download audio here.



About ten years ago I was interviewed for my high school alumni magazine. When I read the article for fact checking, what stood out was how little the quotes sounded like me. The writer had taken some artistic license with my words, one of which was apparently "terrific." I don't say "terrific." "Fabulous" or "awesome," but not "terrific." However, I know the writer, and she says "terrific."

We all get into word ruts. We find a word we like and we stick with it. I used to say "a few" until I picked up on my husband's use of "several." Now I say "several" all the time.

During Rachel Maddow's interview with David Brancaccio the other day, Brancaccio said "bunch" a bunch of times (well, only three times) instead of "a lot," or "many," for example. It was noticeable just because he repeated it. And we all do this.

We all have different sets of words we're comfortable with, a language and speaking style we've developed throughout our lives. In addition, not all the words we know are words we speak. Wikipedia explains this well:

"Reading vocabulary

A person's reading vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when reading. This is the largest type of vocabulary simply because it includes the other three.

Listening vocabulary

A person's listening vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when listening to speech. This vocabulary is aided in size by context and tone of voice.

Writing vocabulary

A person's writing vocabulary is all the words he or she can employ in writing. Contrary to the previous two vocabulary types, the writing vocabulary is stimulated by its user.

Speaking vocabulary

A person's speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she can use in speech. Due to the spontaneous nature of the speaking vocabulary, words are often misused. This misuse – though slight and unintentional – may be compensated by facial expressions, tone of voice, or hand gestures."

How do we explore our vocabulary and get greater usage from it? When I suggest exploring your vocabulary, I'm not suggesting using bigger or more complicated words, or necessarily learning more words (although that's not a bad idea). What I am suggesting is saying what you really mean and using vocabulary to be more clear in your communication. Especially if, like me, you find yourself in a rut using the same words over and over, and you know there are better options.

Say you want to describe something that happened that was "really bad." Was it tragic? Was it horrific? Was it traumatic? Was it scary? Was it gnarly? (A SoCal reference, if that one's not in your vocab.) Was it all of the above? What are you really trying to say? Each word adds a different nuance to the story.

Even if you're not much of a reader, try to find some time for reading books, magazines or newspapers to refresh your vocabulary. And if you come across a word you're not familiar with, get out your dictionary or bookmark one for online reference. When I was a kid, "Look it up!" was an everyday exclamation in our house. We also played a lot of word games, like Scrabble and Boggle. Yes, I'm a word nerd, but you don't have to be one to find the value in stimulating your vocabulary.

Also, consider using a thesaurus when you find yourself stuck in a rut. I use Thesaurus.com almost daily when writing, to make sure I'm not using the same stale old words but -- and this is important -- I try to find words that are still "me." If I never say "terrific" in conversation, it's doubtful I'm going to use it in a blog post.

Here's a page on building your vocabulary with some entertaining (I wanted to say "fun" but forced myself not to) quizzes and a lot of helpful links.

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Are you mispronounciating your words?

Download audio here.



A client told me recently that she sometimes has trouble pronouncing words properly because she was raised by parents from another country and still has a bit of their accent at times. I suggested that she's not pronouncing words incorrectly if that's how they're pronounced in another English-speaking country. But she's self-conscious about it, so I decided to devote today's blog post to pronunciation.

How do you know if you're pronouncing words properly? You probably don't, because most of us have ways of speaking that we've developed over a lifetime of influence from parents, friends, our culture, and our state or region. The way we say things is the way we say things, and no one is going to tell us when we're wrong.

However, there are some words that are frequently mispronounced by native English speakers that have nothing to do with region or accent. One of the very first blog posts I wrote three years ago was about the mispronunciation of the word "a." There is one pronunciation for the word "a" and a different pronunciation for the letter "a."

Here are some other words that are frequently mispronounced/misunderstood. How many of these do you say?

No: Antartic | Yes: Antarctic

No: card shark | Yes: cardsharp

No: chomp at the bit | Yes: champ at the bit

No: excape | Yes: escape

No: expresso | Yes: espresso

No: forte (fortay) | Yes: fort (I only discovered this about a year ago!)

No: heighth | Yes: height

No: mannaise | Yes: mayonnaise

No: nuptual | Yes: nuptial

No: perculate | Yes: percolate

No: sherbert | Yes: sherbet

No: supposably | Yes: supposedly

No: triathalon | Yes: triathlon

For more fun with mispronounced words, check out this list. You will be shocked to see some of these; I guarantee it. You can click on the link for each correct word and hear the proper pronunciation.

If you're not sure about a word, look it up. Study lists like the one above to make sure you know what you're talking about. Pronunciation plays a big role in a presentation; don't let yours be a distraction to the audience. Maintain your credibility and authority as a speaker and an expert by using and pronouncing words properly.

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What inspires you?

Today you'll find my guest post over at Chris Spagnuolo's Edgehopper blog. I decided to share a little about how I get my inspiration for blog posts and presentation ideas. If you ever experience mental blocks when creating, you might find my post helpful!

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Do you know what you're saying -- and why?

Does anyone know what a laundry list is? Me neither. I think I saw one in a museum exhibit last year, but I'm not sure.

I believe it's a list of all the possible items that a laundry will take, and you have to check off which items you're leaving to be cleaned. This is one of those expressions that makes no sense to me, so I don't use it.

I learned my lesson on this when I was about eight years old. Some family friends left our house after a visit and I, merely repeating an expression I had heard many times, said, "Goodbye and good riddance."

Let's just say there were consequences for my rudeness.

Using words accurately and appropriately is important to me, as you know if you've been reading Speak Schmeak for a while. Just about the worst thing a speaker can do is be unclear.

Who is your audience?

Imagine speaking to an audience outside the U.S. and using the expression "laundry list." Would anyone understand you? Probably not. How about using a baseball analogy? Right.

Now ask yourself whether your audiences who are in the U.S. understand you. Does everyone get sports analogies? Maybe not -- so why use them if you can't be sure?

True, there are a lot of idioms (and clichés) we use in our daily language that are pretty clear as to their meanings, if you think about it for a moment: "putting the cart before the horse," "walking on eggshells," "like a fish out of water."

You might even be able to translate those abroad, but I wouldn't try it without consulting someone who is a native speaker of the language to find out if there's an equivalent expression.

Meanings are not always obvious

But what about those that aren't clear? Talking about someone who's "hoist by his own petard" is great if everyone in the audience is familiar with Shakespeare or medieval weapons, but otherwise, the meaning is far from obvious. By the way, did you know that "piece of work" also comes from Shakespeare? I've never heard anyone use that expression except in the movies, where they seem to say it a lot.

How about "close but no cigar," or "down to brass tacks?" Sure, your audience can go look these up after your presentation, but in the meantime, they're thinking "What the heck does that mean, anyway?"

Yes, I'm being a little facetious. Most people will have heard these expressions and have some sort of idea what you mean. But then, I said "most."

It's all relative

Last Christmas, I gave one of my husband's nieces a button that was a pictogram for "clothes horse." She had never heard the expression, but then she's only 13. However, only one other person in the room, besides my husband, knew what it meant. And there were probably 15 adults and teenagers there.

In attempting to explain the expression to them, I realized I had no idea what its origin was. All I could tell them was how it's used now. Which, of course, made no sense to them because they couldn't wrap their brains around the "horse" part.

So back to my main point: Be clear. Don't use expressions that you don't understand yourself. Be extra cautious and assume the audience may not get your favorite idioms, especially in our multicultural world of today.

Not to mention all the young people who wrinkle up their noses, get all squinty-eyed, and say, "huh?" when we old folks say something like "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."

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It's National Grammar Day!

As Doug Fisher says on his blog, Common Sense Journalism:

"So on this day to celebrate 'good' grammar, let's simply stop and take stock of what it is, or should be -- and what it isn't --and ask a simple question: Am I making myself as clear as I can to those with whom I am communicating? And we might ask what some of the conventions are and why they do or don't help us communicate."

Here's the official National Grammar Day site, and here's the day's sponsor, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, aka SPOGG.

And don't miss this article in the Chicago Tribune about not getting carried away on National Grammar Day. Nathan Bierma quotes the NGD site:

"'If you see a sign with a catastrophic apostrophe, send a kind note to the storekeeper,' urges SPOGG at nationalgrammarday.com. 'If your local newscaster says "Between you and I," set him straight with a friendly e-mail.' Such corrections are seldom friendly, welcome or necessary. They are usually self-righteous, irritating and misinformed."

(This is technically not a grammar issue but a punctuation issue - it's a quote within a quote within a quote, and I confess that I had no idea how to punctuate three levels of quotation marks. Thank you Grammar Girl for clearing that up for me!)

Of course, I prefer good grammar to poor grammar, particularly in a professional setting, in professional writing, or from professional speakers. In casual writing and conversation, I don't care so much. Because communication is not about perfection, it's about connection.

Nobody's perfect, and I certainly don't claim to be. As I've said before in my many rants about rules, I think it's more important to build relationships and be understood than it is to rigidly follow all the rules. (Thank you Mignon Fogarty for saying it's okay to split infinitives.)

So get out there and make yourself clear. It's all you can do.

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Use analogies to make an impact

We watched Helvetica yesterday, the documentary celebrating the 50th anniversary of the typeface with a peek into the world of graphic design and specifically, type. It's a fascinating story, and I was amazed at how Helvetica is everywhere and, depending on how it's used, can be hip, pedestrian, ugly, elegant or assertive.

The movie features the "rock stars" of graphic design from the last half-century, and one of my favorite moments is with designer Michael Bierut as he gives an example of how fresh and clean Modernist design must have seemed in the 50s and 60s as companies moved away from the traditional design of the previous decades.

He imagines a 1950s meeting between a graphic designer and a company wanting to change its stationery:

"'Here's your current stationery and all that it implies, and this is what we're proposing.'

Next to that, next to the belching smokestack and the nuptial script and ivory paper, they'd have a crisp, bright, white piece of paper and, instead of 'Amalgamated Widget, Founded 1857,' it would just say 'Widgco' in Helvetica Medium.

Can you imagine how bracing and thrilling that was? That must have seemed like you had crawled through a desert with your mouth just caked with filthy dust, and then someone to offer you a clear, refreshing, distilled, icy glass of water."

Bierut has a way with a story. His passion for the typeface and its influence is clear, and his words evoke a scene that visually illustrates the significance of the moment Helvetica came on the scene.

This is a perfect example of how analogies and examples can impact an audience. Does anything more need to be said for you to understand his point?

He could have said, "Helvetica was a revolutionary typeface that rode the wave of the Swiss design craze in the 50s and 60s and changed the face of graphic design forever." But that would have none of the power of the analogy.

Always be thinking about how you can use analogies, examples and stories in your presentations. They're much more effective in getting the message across, and much more entertaining and memorable for your audience.

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

This list is a slippery slope to existential change

Check out the LA Times equivalent of the banished words list I wrote about earlier in the month.

Some of my "favorites":

It's all good.

My bad.

Using. Periods. After. Every. Word. For. Emphasis.

Any phrases you'd like to add?

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Banished words

Lake Superior State University publishes an annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.

"On Dec. 31, 1975, former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues cooked up an idea to banish overused words and phrases and issue a list on New Year's Day. Much to the delight of language enthusiasts everywhere, the list has stayed the course into a fourth decade.

This year's list derives from more than 2,000 nominations received through the university's website, www.lssu.edu/banished. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, education, technology, advertising, politics, sports and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. The list is released on New Year's Day."

I'm on board with most of these (turning nouns into verbs like "authored" instead of "wrote" and "gifted" instead of "gave" drives me crazy), although I still like to say "sweet," but more like this: "Suh-WEET!"

Here are some of my pet peeves I've posted before:

Using the letter "a" as the word "a."

Saying "podium" instead of "lectern."

"It's not your grandmother's (fill in the blank)."

"Monetize" (As Inigo Montoya said to Vizzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.")

Using "compose" and "comprise" interchangeably.

Apostrophe abuse

"Make your butterflies fly in formation."

I'm going to start submitting to the list. What words or phrases would you like to see banished?

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Do you speak American?

If you've ever wondered whether you're pronouncing words correctly, here's the place to check: "The Big Book Of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide For The Careful Speaker," by Charles Harrington Elster.

Look here for a sneak preview of 100 words covered in the book

Nuclear (not NOO-kyuh-lur) . . . check!

Realtor (not REE-luh-tur) . . . check!

Balsamic . . . uh, what?

If "balsamic" (as in vinegar) is a shortened version of the Italian "aceto balsamico," and "balsamico" is pronounced "bawl - SAHM - i - ko," then why is "balsamic" suddenly pronounced "bawl - SAM (as in "ham") - ik" when it crosses the Atlantic?

Anyway, it's a fun list to go through, and I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about issues that might be more about geography and regional pronunciation than about proper English.

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

National Punctuation Day

I'm a little late to the party, but for all you word nerds out there, happy National Punctuation Day! (The celebration was actually on Monday.)

Jeff Rubin founded National Punctuation Day in 2004 to draw attention to the importance of proper punctuation, and it was originally intended to influence the poor punctuation habits of business professionals.

Since then, the organization has expanded and now offers school programs and products, including greeting cards, mugs, and t-shirts with sayings like, "A semicolon is not a surgical procedure." There's even an official meat loaf recipe!

In honor of National Punctuation Day, here's a re-post of a list I put up last month of grammar and punctuation blogs. I hope you "enjoy" these site's!

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Apostrophe Abuse

lowercase L

Apostrophe Protection Society

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Stayed and stood

Have to get another pet peeve off of my chest. Have you heard people use the word "stood" as the past tense of "stay?" So, instead of saying "I stayed out too late," they will say "I stood out too late"?

Last night I heard Rod Serling use "stood" instead of "stayed" in the prelude to a Twilight Zone episode and I almost choked on my dinner. Rod Serling? I'm just fed up with this one.

Just to clarify: the past tense of "stay" is "stayed." The past tense of "stand" is "stood."

The expression "I should have stood in bed" is attributed to boxing manager Joe Jacobs regarding his attendance at a 1935 World Series game (isn't the visual of "stood in bed" hilarious?).

It was an especially cold day, and when asked what he thought of baseball, Jacobs responded with the classic quip. Jacobs was also responsible for coining the phrase, "We wuz robbed."

Jacobs was obviously a colorful character who could get away with throwing around bad grammar and malapropisms. Unless you're a colorful character, however, please don't say "stood" when you mean "stayed."

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

These are a few of my favorite posts. . .

I thought it might be useful for people who are newer to Speak Schmeak for me to list some of my favorite posts since I started the blog. These 22 posts also link to additional posts by me and other bloggers. Have a great long weekend!

"A" is a letter

Lose the jargon

A lectern is not a podium

Clichés

Playing it safe. . . or being who you are?

Starting and arriving on time

Me and him, him and I

Introducing yourself

Do you thank your audience?

What's in it for them?

Cool as a cucumber, or sweaty as a racehorse?

Why you need to get real world experience

Grab 'em with enthusiasm, not perfection

Overcoming obstacles as a speaker

When speaking is exhausting

Don't forget the nosebleeds

Get grounded

What I've learned from Kathy Griffin

Public speaking: fear vs. phobia

Are you too hard on yourself?

Play for the people (Dick Dale)

The truth about 7% - 38% - 55%

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

Um, there's a new book

Here's a new book I'm looking forward to reading: "Um. . .: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean." Here's what the New York Times Sunday Book Review has to say.

If you can't get to that review, Amazon has some brief notes and here's the website for more info.

You may recall that I'm not very concerned about "ums" and "uhs" (which are only covered in part of the book - it's not the topic of the entire book), so I'm interested to know how Erard approaches this subject.

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!

New cliché resource

I just found this useful Squidoo lens on one of my favorite subjects (and biggest pet peeves): The Encyclopedia of Business Clichés, by Seth Godin.

There's a running list of clichés that you can add to, a resource list of cliché websites, some of which I've mentioned here before, and a list of books on business language.

And while you're there, how about checking out my Squidoo lens on public speaking and presentation skills? I've made some updates.

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On The Everything Page you'll find everything you need to build visibility, credibility and influence through engaging presentations that move your participants into action: freebies, low-cost products and courses, and 1:1 coaching!