For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision. <\/i><\/p>\n
\u2014Titus 1:10<\/i><\/p>\n
6297<\/b> Non-Stop Talking Records<\/b><\/p>\n
Irishman Kevin Sheenham of Limerick, Pa., in 1955 set a world record for nonstop talking\u2014133 hours. <\/p>\n
This record is now broken by Tim Harty of Coon Rapids, Minn., whose record in 1975 was\u2014144 hours. <\/p>\n
The women\u2019s nonstop talking record belongs to Mrs. Mary E. Davis who in 1958 started talking in Buffalo, New York, and did not stop until she was in Tulsa, Okla.\u2014a total of 110 hours, 30 minutes. <\/p>\n
6298<\/b> Kennedy\u2019s Record<\/b><\/p>\n
Extremely few people can speak articulately at a sustained rate above 300 words per minute. The fastest speech recorded in public life is a 327-word-per-minute surge in a speech by John F. Kennedy in 1961 while he was US president. <\/p>\n
6299<\/b> Average Man\u2019s Daily Talk<\/b><\/p>\n
It has been estimated that from the first \u201cgood morning\u201d to the last \u201cgood night\u201d the average man engages in approximately 30 conversations a day. <\/p>\n
6300<\/b> Daily 25,000 Words<\/b><\/p>\n
Astronaut Michael Collins, speaking at a banquet, quoted the estimate that the average man speaks 25,000 words a day and the average woman 30,000. Then he added: \u201cUnfortunately, when I come home each day I\u2019ve spoken my 25,000\u2014and my wife hasn\u2019t started her 30,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Sports Illustrated<\/i><\/p>\n
6301<\/b> Daily Words In Books<\/b><\/p>\n
According to statisticians the average person spends at least one-fifth of his or her life talking. Ordinarily, in a single day enough words are used to fill a 50-page book. In one year\u2019s time the average person\u2019s words would fill 132 books, each containing 400 pages. <\/p>\n
6302<\/b> Larger-Sized Books<\/b><\/p>\n
Or, according to one statistician, the average person spends at least 13 years of his life talking. On a normal day something like 18,000 words are likely to be used, roughly equivalent to a book of 54 pages. While in the course of a single year, his words would fill 66 books, each containing 800 pages. <\/p>\n
THE VOICE<\/p>\n
6303<\/b> \u201cFine Men!\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
In England, a man faced a charge of slander by the way he said publicly: \u201cYou are a fine body of men!\u201d The sneer in his voice indicated that he was using the words ironically. <\/p>\n
6304<\/b> The Word \u201cMesopotamia\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
It has been said that Mr. Whitefield could produce every emotion of the human heart by pronouncing the name, \u201cMesopotamia.\u201d Dr. Lathrop related a scene which he had witnessed, without any feeling, to Mr. Whitefield. The same day, Dr. Lathrop listened to the same story, by Mr. Whitefield, and found himself bathed in tears. <\/p>\n
\u2014Foster<\/p>\n
6305<\/b> Voice Characterization By Pastor<\/b><\/p>\n
R. G. Lee, Pastor Emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, uses voice characterization as a means of communication. His famous recorded sermon \u201cPayday Someday\u201d is an example of this art. He uses his voice to introduce each speaker in the Scripture. Each one has a distinctly different personality. It seems that you can almost see the people of the Bible standing before you as he preaches. <\/p>\n
People are used to hearing the different types of voices around them. Many use the voice as an insight into the character of people that they meet. This natural tendency makes them interested in the voice characterization type of preaching. <\/p>\n
Every minister should have some of the skills of the actor and the platform speaker. There is no reason that he cannot use these skills to make his message forceful. <\/p>\n
\u2014Michael Moore<\/p>\n
6306<\/b> Deep Voice More Sincere? <\/b><\/p>\n
Is a deep voice more sincere than a shrill one? Of course not! Only the person speaking, whether his voice is deep-toned or shrill, determines how sincere he is. Many people, however, do measure credibility by whether a person\u2019s voice rings true or not, and the deeper the voice, the more they are apt to believe what they are told. Perhaps this fallacy originates with the misconception that the deeper a person\u2019s voice is the closer it comes from that \u201csource of truth\u201d\u2014the heart. <\/p>\n
6307<\/b> Voiceprints Admitted In Court<\/b><\/p>\n
According to Newsweek<\/i> \u201cfor the first time a Westchester County, N. Y., court admitted as evidence fingerprints of a human voice, or voiceprints! <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the 1966 precedent-setting case, a New Rochelle detective was charged with telephoning a bookie to warn him of a pending raid. Police had tapped the phone, and former Bell Telephone Laboratories researcher Lawrence G. Kersta testified his sound-analysis technique showed that the voice of the accused detective was the same as that on the police tape. The Voice-printer records each word as a set of wavy lines that reflects the important qualities of the speaker\u2019s voice as determined by throat structure, or even by the speech training he received as a baby.\u201d <\/p>\n
6308<\/b> Talking To Typewriters<\/b><\/p>\n
The Sperry Gyroscope Company has developed a synthetic \u201cbrain cell\u201d that can hear and react to the human voice. Called the Sceptron, the \u201ccell\u201d is built of fine fibers of quartz. <\/p>\n
The tiny, light-carrying quartz fibers vibrate in a certain pattern to sound stimuli. The \u201ccell\u201d can both listen and judge between different voices and similar sounds. Scientists think it will lead to the development of \u201cphotographic memories\u201d through which men can talk to typewriters, calculators, and other machines. <\/p>\n
6309<\/b> Pilot\u2019s Psychological Passports<\/b><\/p>\n
London (Reuter)\u2014Russian experts have come up with a unique way of monitoring the physical and mental condition of pilots and astronauts\u2014the scientific study of their voice-patterns. <\/p>\n
Voice and speech are indices of human psychology, Novosti reported. \u201cThey can tell much about the mood of a man and his condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
For instance, a flier finds it difficult to speak at all during conditions of overstrain or when he speaks abruptly and laconically. <\/p>\n
At the moment of weightlessness, the speech becomes richer and emotional. Monotonous speech is characteristic at the moment of air-sickness and limited movement. <\/p>\n
Emotional and physical tensions cause the basic frequency of the voice to rise, as well as the intensity of speech signals, while tiredness and depression usually decrease these factors. <\/p>\n
But each individual has his own speech and voice peculiarities. <\/p>\n
So, during training for a flight, the specialists would have to study a cosmonaut\u2019s speaking habits and compile what Dr. Kurashvili calls \u201ca psychological passport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armed with this data, a trained specialist can discover changes in the pilot\u2019s condition by the pecularities in timbre, intonation, tempo of speech and other factors. <\/p>\n
While doing this, he pays attention to the structure of sentences, the nature of pauses, the appearance of superfluous words. <\/p>\n
6310<\/b> Our Sounds Go To Planets<\/b><\/p>\n
Scientists tell us that the sound waves set in motion by our voices go upon an endless journey through space, and that, had we instruments delicate enough, and the power to take our stand upon some planet long years afterwards, we might find them again and recreate the words we spoke. <\/p>\n
\u2014Sunday School Chronicle<\/i><\/p>\n
6311<\/b> Talking Gum-Arabic<\/b><\/p>\n
Traveling in Egypt, George Ade went out to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx; there he met Mark Twain. Mark\u2019s guide was an old, toothless, decrepit creature, looking half as old as the Sphinx itself. The two humorists compared notes on their travels and on Egypt. Mark complained that, although he had studied some Arabic, he couldn\u2019t understand a word his old guide said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo wonder,\u201d replied Ade. \u201cYou see he\u2019s talking gum-Arabic.\u201d<\/p>\n
6312<\/b> Stutterers, Incorporated<\/b><\/p>\n
There is now an organization for stutterers called National Stuttering Project. Started in 1976, it has already expanded into 15 chapters in California, Oregon and Washington. It seeks to weld the nation\u2019s 2.6 million stutterers into a potent lobbying group against alleged oppression and ridicule. As their champion, they cite famous stutterers such as Moses, Demosthenes, Darwin and Maugham. <\/p>\n
Its first notable success: Following a protest by the N.S.P., Oakland TV station KTVU stopped showing Porky Pig cartoons. <\/p>\n
6313<\/b> To Cultivate Eloquence<\/b><\/p>\n
Demosthenes took unbounded pains with his voice, and Cicero, who was naturally weak, made a long journey into Greece to correct his manner of speaking. With far nobler themes, let us not be less ambitious to excel. \u201cDeprive me of everything else,\u201d says Gregory of Nazianzen, \u201cbut leave me eloquence, and I shall never regret the voyages which I have made in order to study it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Spurgeon<\/p>\n
6314<\/b> Marbles In Mouth<\/b><\/p>\n
Representative Brooks Hays, who has the reputation of being the Capitol\u2019s top storyteller, insists this is the way public speakers were trained when he was young:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe instructor emulated Demosthenes, who practiced his speeches with pebbles in his mouth. At the beginning of the course, each student was given a mouthful of marbles. Everyday the instructor reduced the number by one marble. The student became a public speaker when he had lost all his marbles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Washington Post<\/i><\/p>\n
6315<\/b> To Talk To Plants<\/b><\/p>\n
Talk to your plants and they\u2019ll grow better! lncredible as it may sound, it\u2019s true. Dr. Henry M. Cathey, chief of the Ornamental Laboratory of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has an unromantic explanation:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we sing or talk to plants, we exhale an amount of carbon dioxide into the air, and just as we require oxygen to live, plants require carbon dioxide.\u201d Dr. Cathey added, however, that plant lovers should save their breath and not bother with bedtime stories or lullabies\u2014\u201dPlant pores close at night. It is only during the day, when light is striking the pores that they are open.\u201d<\/p>\n
6316<\/b> Talking To Plants Helps<\/b><\/p>\n
West Lafayette, Indiana (AP)\u2014It\u2019s not uncommon to find people who talk to their house-plants on a regular basis, says professor of horticulture at Purdue University. <\/p>\n
John A. Wott said that during a recent meeting of 35 amateur horticulturists, half the group admitted to communication with their plants. The explanation:<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who talk to their plants are much more observant than other plant owners. Those people obviously care about their plants and they notice things when they talk to them\u2014if the plant needs water, if there\u2019s an insect crawling on it, or whatever. Then they take care of it and the plant thrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
6317<\/b> \u201cI Demand Pandemonium\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A high-school chemistry teacher, finding the students noisy when he entered the classroom, slapped his open hand down on his desk and ordered sharply: \u201cI demand pandemonium.\u201d The class quieted down immediately. \u201cIt isn\u2019t what you ask for,\u201d the teacher commented later, \u201cit\u2019s how you ask it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Des Moines Tribune<\/i><\/p>\n
6318<\/b> She Simply Asked<\/b><\/p>\n
This story has been told in various forms, but the substance of it is as follows: A Chicago newspaper wanted the picture of a certain woman. The editor sent out his best men. They offered money to the servants of the woman in question; they employed a telephone repair man to search the house while he was working; they contacted all the photographers in a wide area. Nowhere could they find or secure a picture. <\/p>\n
At last, in desperation, they sent out a cub reporter who had practically no experience. He succeeded. He got a picture. When the editor told the youth to reveal how he had done it to the assembled staff of the newspaper, the young man blurted:<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the house, rang the bell, and when a lady came to the door, I simply asked for her picture, and she gave it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
6319<\/b> Epigram On Talking (Voice)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 If you have a soft voice, you don\u2019t need a big stick. <\/p>\n
\u2014Chinese Proverb<\/p>\n
\u2022 A favor is half granted when gracefully refused. <\/p>\n
\u2014Publilius Syrus<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ninety percent of all the friction of daily life is caused by mere tone of voice. When a man speaks, his words convey his thoughts and his tone conveys his mood! <\/p>\n
THE WORDS<\/p>\n
6320<\/b> Ten Most Impressive Words<\/b><\/p>\n
Wilfred Funk, a noted lexicographer and dictionary publisher, suggests the ten most impressive words in the English language. Note their illustrative value:<\/p>\n
\u201cAlone\u201d\u2014the bitterest word<\/p>\n
\u201cMother\u201d\u2014the most revered word<\/p>\n
\u201cDeath\u201d\u2014the most tragic<\/p>\n
\u201cFaith\u201d\u2014brings greatest comfort<\/p>\n
\u201cForgotten\u201d\u2014saddest<\/p>\n
\u201cLove\u201d\u2014most beautiful<\/p>\n
\u201cRevenge\u201d\u2014cruelest<\/p>\n
\u201cFriendship\u201d\u2014warmest<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d\u2014coldest<\/p>\n
\u201cTranquility\u201d\u2014most peaceful<\/p>\n
\u2014The Circle<\/i><\/p>\n
6321<\/b> Some Most Important Words<\/b><\/p>\n
THE SIX MOST IMPORTANT WORDS:<\/p>\n
\u201cI admit I made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT WORDS:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is your opinion?\u201d<\/p>\n
THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you please.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT WORDS:<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE MOST IMPORTANT WORD:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE LEAST IMPORTANT WORD:<\/p>\n
\u201cI.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Builder<\/i><\/p>\n
6322<\/b> Sentence Structuring<\/b><\/p>\n
Professor Ernest Brennecke of Columbia University is credited with inventing a sentence that can be made to have eight different meanings by placing the word \u201conly\u201d in all possible positions in it:<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit him in the eye yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
6323<\/b> Maybe \u201cWe Will\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Alben Barkley was asked at a dinner to explain the meaning of the diplomatic term \u201ca qualified maybe.\u201d He said the theory is best illustrated by the story of an Irish sergeant in World War I who decided to inspire the men with a pep talk. He outlined the job ahead and then said determinedly: \u201cBoys, will yez fight or will yez run?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will!\u201d they answered to a man. <\/p>\n
\u201cWill what?\u201d the sergeant barked. <\/p>\n
\u201cWill not!\u201d they chorused. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the spirit, me hardies,\u201d the sergeant beamed. \u201cI knew yez would.\u201d<\/p>\n
6324<\/b> Weasel Words<\/b><\/p>\n
According to Coronet<\/i> \u201cweasel words\u201d are words with several possible meanings, so used that the utterer can weasel out of any commitment. Theodore Roosevelt popularized the expression over 50 years ago. <\/p>\n
6325<\/b> Doctors, Watch Your Words<\/b><\/p>\n
Medicine at Work<\/i>, published by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, has stressed the critical importance of words spoken in surgery. <\/p>\n
As the anesthetic is given for surgery, deadly fear may strike the patient when he hears someone say, \u201cI\u2019m going to shoot him now,\u201d or, \u201cHook up the monitor.\u201d \u201cMonitor\u201d to the drugged patient may sound like \u201cmonster.\u201d Or a doctor may declare in disgust, \u201cThis isn\u2019t my day!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Paul J. Moses told a medical audience in San Francisco that \u201cthe same directions given by two different physicians could help or fail.\u201d One doctor\u2019s voice, Dr. Moses suggested, might make the medicine work, but the other\u2019s might reveal doubt and the medicine would fail. <\/p>\n
6326<\/b> Medical Codes<\/b><\/p>\n
The medical profession possesses a code of ethics which is probably the oldest of any profession. Hammurabi, King of Babylon, promulgated in 1900 B.C. a law which regulated the practice of medicine. Around 400 B.C., Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, wrote among other things a declaration of principles, now called the Hippocratic Oath, which every physician to this day swears to before he takes up the practice of medicine. <\/p>\n
To this body of tradition and custom, medical societies of the contemporary world have added their own special provisions to take care of their special needs and problems. It would seem that with such rules of conduct, definitions of personal and professional relations, specific examples of what is moral or immoral, relations between doctors and between them and their patients would be forever characterized by harmony, understanding and compassion. <\/p>\n
Take the case of consultations. The code of Medical Associations goes into specific detail regarding the ritual to be observed by both the attending physician and the consultant whom he calls in. \u201cWhile in the presence of the patient or of his family, the consultant should not make any remarks about the diagnosis, etiology, prognosis or treatment, or hint of any possible error of the attending physician. In a secluded place away from the patient, the physicians should discuss the case and determine the course of treatment to be followed.\u201d<\/p>\n
I have known many patients who have rebelled at this. When they pay somebody for an expert opinion, they want to get it directly and unequivocally. This business of physicians whispering among themselves in a corner, keeping out all outsiders, and then designating a spokesman to express their collective opinion looks too much like a conspiracy to hide somebody\u2019s mistake or to agree upon a fee to be charged later. <\/p>\n
6327<\/b> Word Bank<\/b><\/p>\n
Montreal (AFP)\u2014The University of Montreal has brought into service a special type of bank of which there were previously only two examples in the world: a word bank. <\/p>\n
The computer is of a kind used before only by the Common Market headquarters in Luxemburg and the West German Languages Institute. <\/p>\n
The Montreal computer\u2019s storage banks hold 42,000 cards which represent 100,000 words in English and French. In fact, it could be programmed to contain the elements of 16 different languages. <\/p>\n
In the next three years the Montreal \u201cbank\u201d is expected to build up a reserve stock of about 600,000 words. <\/p>\n
The big advantage of this type of \u201cbank\u201d over an ordinary dictionary is that new words can be put into the computer\u2019s store at any moment the programmers like. Its deposits of words are always up-to-date. <\/p>\n
Thus the computer\u2019s memory bank is always rich in neologisms, making it particularly useful to previously harassed translators faced with modern usage of old words or brand-new terminology in some of the more recent writings now on the international markets. <\/p>\n
6328<\/b> Dictionary Considers New Words<\/b><\/p>\n
The editors of Merriam-Webster dictionaries are studying which new words will be included in their new editions. Here are some of them: automobilitis, the problem caused by the increasing use of automobiles; decidophobia, the abnormal dread of making decisions; logocide, the distortion of the meaning of a word; carrotize, to entice into a deal by the promise of immediate gain; carboholic, a compulsive eater. <\/p>\n
6329<\/b> Words That Shook The World<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat hath God wrought?\u201d First long-distance message by Morse telegraph. <\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Watson, come here, I want you.\u201d First intelligible words sent by telephone. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Italian navigator has landed and the natives are friendly.\u201d First message to the world that atomic energy was born. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.\u201d First words from Astronaut Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere art thou?\u201d First words spoken by God to Adam and Eve after they had sinned (Genesis 3:9). <\/p>\n
6330<\/b> Roosevelt\u2019s \u201cAgain, Again, Again\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Once\u2014some years ago\u2014the New York Daily News<\/i> offered to contribute five thousand dollars to an organized charity if any challenger could prove that President Roosevelt in his famous \u201cAgain and again and again\u201d speech added to this promise the qualification \u201cunless we are attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
An editorial challenge claims of Roosevelt supporters that the President had made such a stipulation on Oct. 30, 1940. <\/p>\n
The News<\/i> quoted Mr. Roosevelt as saying: \u201cAnd while I am talking to you, mothers and fathers, I give you one more assurance. I have said this before, but I shall say it again, and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Robert G. Lee<\/p>\n
6331<\/b> When \u201cCaza\u201d Sounded Like \u201cCasar\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Couples were getting married in Puerto Rico by the wholesale, everywhere, as fast as they could get married. And all because of the difference between \u201ccaza and casar.\u201d<\/p>\n
They had a radio broadcast in which it was announced over the ether waves that after June all \u201ccaza\u201d would be prohibited. Now \u201ccaza\u201d sounds like \u201ccasar,\u201d and thousands of Puerto Ricans understood the warning to be all \u201ccasar\u201d would be prohibited. <\/p>\n
Those words may sound a good deal alike, but they mean very different things. \u201cCaza\u201d means hunting while \u201ccasar\u201d means marriage. So that Puerto Rican broadcast was understood to mean that after June 10 all weddings would be prohibited, and you couldn\u2019t get married anymore in Puerto Rico. <\/p>\n
That was why thousands of couples went rushing to the altar while there was still time. You can imagine the feelings of some when they found they had jumped hastily into matrimony, just because that radio news broadcaster got his tongue twisted and made \u201ccaza\u201d sound like \u201ccasar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
6332<\/b> \u201cMost Homely Women\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
In the autumn of 1923 I arrived from Wales, my native land, with the party of David Lloyd George, famed British Prime Minister. I soon found myself the guest of the African Inland Missionary Home in Brookline, a guest who was a very lonely and homesick young man. A large group of retired lady missionaries, sensing my loneliness, arranged an afternoon tea to help dispel my gloom. At the close I was asked to say a word to the assembled ladies, and looking them squarely in the face I exclaimed, \u201cWhat language is there to describe my gratitude to you, dear women, for all this kindness? What word can describe my feelings?\u201d<\/p>\n
Then in a burst of enthusiasm I thundered, \u201cI know just the word, you are without doubt the most homely women I have ever met.\u201d Brother, I learned the hard way that there are words used in the old country that are never used here, even if homely in Wales does mean wholesome, gracious, kind, loving and motherly. <\/p>\n
\u2014Peter R. Joshua<\/p>\n
6333<\/b> Nice Wording<\/b><\/p>\n
While visiting the Oregon Caves National Monument, we hoped to get some rock samples\u2014until we heard the following introduction from a cave tour guide: \u201cI hope you enjoy our trek through the caves. I must ask you not to destroy or take any of the rock formations. Actually, we have had very little trouble with this. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because of our visitors\u2019 great love for nature, their desire for the preservation of the caves, or their respect for the $500 fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Selected<\/p>\n
6334<\/b> In Other Words To King<\/b><\/p>\n
Once a king dreamed that all his teeth had fallen out. Immediately he sent for one of his soothsayers to interpret the meaning of the vision. With a sad countenance and mournful voice, the soothsayer told the monarch that the dream meant that all his relatives would die and that he would be left alone. This angered the king and he drove the servant from his presence. <\/p>\n
Another was called and the king told him of the dream. At this, the wise man smiled, and replied, \u201cRejoice, O King; the dream means that you will live yet many years. In fact you will outlive all your relatives.\u201d This pleased the king a great deal, and in his joy he gave the interpreter a rich reward. The two men had said, in different ways, the same thing. <\/p>\n
\u2014Clyde N. Parker<\/p>\n
6335<\/b> United Nations And Words<\/b><\/p>\n
Some years before his death, former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson of Canada remarked that the United Nations was drowning in its own rhetoric and suffocating in its own documentation. <\/p>\n
Last year alone, the U. N. recorded its proceedings on 773,086, 990 page units. The cost of their publication was $29 million. <\/p>\n
It was estimated that Peking\u2019s entry into the World Body would cost an additional $5 million a year to have all the UN proceedings printed in Chinese, a right on which the Nationalist Chinese did not insist. <\/p>\n
6336<\/b> To Pronounce \u201cShibboleth\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
A narrative in the twelfth chapter of Judges related how Jephthah, judge of Israel, found himself faced with an attack by the Ephraimites. After the Ephraimitish army had crossed the Jordan, Jephthah executed a flanking movement, getting a portion of his army between the Ephraimites and the Jordan. He thereby secured control of all the fords or, as the King James Version puts it, \u201cthe passes\u201d of the Jordan. This was to cut off the retreat of the Ephraimites in the event that Jephthah and his men of Gilead were successful in the battle. <\/p>\n
To distinguish friends from enemies, Jephthah chose \u201cShibboleth\u201d as a password, knowing that the Ephraimites had difficulty with the \u201csh\u201d sound and \u201ccould not frame to pronounce it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ephraimites were defeated, and they came rushing pell-mell back to the Jordan in an effort to get to their own country. When they found Jephthah\u2019s men in command of the passes, they denied that they were Ephraimites. But when they were confronted with the challenge, \u201cSay now Shibboleth,\u201d they said \u201cSibboleth.\u201d That trifling defect proved them to be enemies. \u201cAnd there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Matthew Hill<\/p>\n
6337<\/b> Lincoln\u2019s Worse Horse Trading<\/b><\/p>\n
Abraham Lincoln and a judge, an old friend of his, were joking about horse trading, when Lincoln said:<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Judge, I\u2019ll tell you what I\u2019ll do. I\u2019ll trade horses with you under these conditions. Neither of us will see the other\u2019s horse until it is produced here in the courtyard of this hotel. If either backs out of the agreement, he forfeits twenty-five dollars to the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was agreed, and both left to find a horse for the trade. A crowd collected in the hotel courtyard to watch the fun. When the judge appeared a great laugh rose up at the dejected looking nag that he led. lt was a bag of bones and blind in both eyes. Then Lincoln appeared with a carpenter\u2019s saw-horse on his shoulder. Sitting the saw-horse on the ground, he surveyed the judge\u2019s horse. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Judge,\u201d he said disgustedly, \u201cthis is the first time that I ever got the worst of it in a horse trade.\u201d<\/p>\n
6338<\/b> Epigram On Talking (Words)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. <\/p>\n
\u2014Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n
MAKING SPEECHES<\/p>\n
6339<\/b> Those First-Class Speeches<\/b><\/p>\n
The Duke of Windsor tells about his first attempts at public speaking after he became the Prince of Wales:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more appearances I had to make, the more I came to respect the really first-class speech as one of the highest human accomplishments. No one I knew seemed to possess that rare and envied gift of speaking well in so high a degree as Mr. Winston Churchill, who was a sympathetic witness of some of my earliest attempts. \u201cIf you have an important point to make,\u201d he advised, \u201cdon\u2019t try to be subtle and clever about it. Use the pile driver. Hit the point once, and then come back and hit it again, and then hit it the third time, a tremendous whack!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Eleanor Doan<\/p>\n
6340<\/b> Speaker\u2019s Three Speeches<\/b><\/p>\n
Most speakers have three speeches. The first is what he has written down, the second is what he actually delivers, and the third is what he wishes he had said after it is all over. <\/p>\n
6341<\/b> Mark Twain Stands At Lecture<\/b><\/p>\n
In the course of one of his lecture trips Mark Twain arrived at a small town. Before dinner, he went to a barber shop to be shaved. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou are a stranger?\u201d asked the barber. <\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Mark Twain replied. \u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve been here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou chose a good time to come,\u201d the barber continued. \u201cMark Twain is going to read and lecture tonight. You\u2019ll go, I suppose?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I guess so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you bought your ticket?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut everything is sold out. You\u2019ll have to stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow very annoying!\u201d Mark Twain said, with a sigh. \u201cI never saw such luck! I always have to stand when that fellow lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n
6342<\/b> Lincoln Regrets Gettysburg Speech<\/b><\/p>\n
When the National Cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated, the chosen orator of the day was Edward Everett. He prepared an oration which was scholarly and eloquent enough to satisfy all the conventions of such an occasion. President Lincoln was deeply affected by it, and humbly expressed his own sense of unworthiness in the contrast which he felt his brief address offered to Everett\u2019s eloquence. But we all know how needless were Lincoln\u2019s regrets. His wonderful words have become one of the gems of permanent literature. <\/p>\n
\u2014W. S. Stranahan<\/p>\n
6343<\/b> Why Little Girl Was Silent<\/b><\/p>\n
When Lloyd George was a young lawyer in Wales, he one day gave a lift in his carriage to a little Welsh girl. He talked to her about various things but, try as he might, he could scarcely get a word out of her. Her vocabulary seemed limited to yes and no. <\/p>\n
Some days later he met the little girl\u2019s mother and she mentioned that her daughter had told her of riding with him. She went on to say that the little girl also said, \u201cI couldn\u2019t talk with Mr. George for I know that he charges a fee when you talk with him and I had no money.\u201d<\/p>\n
6344<\/b> Twain Got Up\u2014For Waiter<\/b><\/p>\n
Mark Twain was so often called upon to make impromptu speeches whenever he was invited out to dinner that he finally made it a stipulation of his acceptance that he would not be asked to speak. <\/p>\n
Once, however, at a large but informal gathering, Mark rose from his chair near the end of dinner, the talk stopped and the other guests looked up expectantly and greeted him with loud applause. <\/p>\n
\u201cWaiter,\u201d said Mark when all was quiet, \u201cplease bring me some bread.\u201d<\/p>\n
6345<\/b> Speech Orville Or Wilbur<\/b><\/p>\n
A banquet honoring Orville and Wilbur Wright, the late aviation pioneers, called to mind an occasion when the two famed brothers were guests at a testimonial dinner for them. Both were extremely shy. The toastmaster called on Wilbur to make a speech. Wilbur rose to his feet only long enough to stammer: \u201cThere must be a mistake. I think you want my brother.\u201d Wilbur quickly sat down and the toastmaster called upon Orville, who replied: \u201cWilbur just made the speech.\u201d<\/p>\n
6346<\/b> When Audience Stands For Speaker<\/b><\/p>\n
Every time I see an audience stand when an after-dinner speaker is introduced, I\u2019m reminded of a remark made by former Gov. Bert Combs of Kentucky when this happened at a banquet where he was to deliver the main talk. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me uneasy for people to stand when I\u2019m introduced at a banquet,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m always afraid they\u2019re going to walk out and leave me to do all the dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Louisville Courier-Journal<\/i><\/p>\n
6347<\/b> On Before-Dinner Speeches<\/b><\/p>\n
Instead of having long stupefying speeches, how much better it would be, if we really wished to hear the senator, or the ambassador, or the captain of industry, if we could meet and hear him and, at the conclusion of the oratory, sit down together and enjoy a good dinner! We should all have a subject of conversation\u2014and the speaker would not dare to talk indefinitely. <\/p>\n
\u2014Autobiography with Letters<\/i><\/p>\n
6348<\/b> How To Secure Speakers<\/b><\/p>\n
Talking to a publishing group in New York, Leo Lioni, of Fortune<\/i>, presented nine techniques that have proved fatally effective in persuading people to speak at dinners:<\/p>\n
(1) The \u201cnext Fall\u201d technique; (2) the \u201cimportance\u201d technique, implying that both invited speaker and occasion are important; (3) the \u201call-expenses-paid-plus-seventy-five-dollars\u201d lure; (4) the \u201ckeynote\u201d technique; (5) the long-distance call; (6) the \u201cintimate friend\u201d technique; (7) the \u201cno-one-else-can-do-it\u201d technique; (8) \u201cthe whole-committee-voted-for-you\u201d technique; (9) the \u201cChicago technique.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Maxwell Droke<\/p>\n
6349<\/b> Epigram On Talking (Speech)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 When both the speaker and the audience are confused, a speech is profound. <\/p>\n
BREVITY IN SPEECH<\/p>\n
6350<\/b> One-Foot Speeches<\/b><\/p>\n
A South African tribe has such a dislike of long speeches that speakers are limited to what they can say while standing on one foot. As long as he can balance himself, a speaker can talk to his heart\u2019s content, but the minute his upraised foot touches the ground, his speech is over. <\/p>\n
\u2014The Safer Way<\/i><\/p>\n
6351<\/b> The Prince Cuts It Short<\/b><\/p>\n
When opening a new hotel at Schiphol Airport, outside Amsterdam, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands won resounding applause for his speech, which followed after others had spoken for 40 minutes. He simply said, \u201cAfter such eloquence, I\u2019m speechless,\u201d and promptly cut the tape. <\/p>\n
6352<\/b> Caesar\u2019s Three Words<\/b><\/p>\n
In just three famous words, \u201cVeni, vidi, vici,\u201d or, \u201cI came, I saw, I conquered,\u201d Julius Caesar described his triumph over King Pharnaces of the Bosporus in 47 B.C. <\/p>\n
6353<\/b> When? Soon! <\/b><\/p>\n
A business consultant of Louisville, Kentucky, has learned that brevity pays off. He was negotiating a sizable deal with a New York firm, but his repeated inquiries went unanswered. <\/p>\n
In desperation, he sent off this note: \u201cDear sirs: When?\u201d<\/p>\n
In the next mail came this reply: \u201cDear Sir: Soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
6354<\/b> President\u2019s Two Words<\/b><\/p>\n
When President Coolidge was president, his fame as a man of few words had spread far and wide, even to a dinner party in a New England town to which he was invited. At the party, two women made a bet. When Mr. Coolidge was seated, one of the women stepped up to him and confessed that she had put up $5 as a wager that she could make the President say at least three words in the first five minutes. <\/p>\n
Mr. Coolidge turned to the woman, gave her a gracious smile, and said, \u201cYou lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
6355<\/b> Coolidge\u2019s Cabled Message<\/b><\/p>\n
During President Coolidge\u2019s term of office, a group of Amherst graduates, resident in Europe, asked him, as their most distinguished classmate, to send a cable message collect to be read at their class reunion in Madrid. <\/p>\n
So during the reunion a banquet was held at which the Master of Ceremonies rose to announce that a cable had been received from the President of the United States. The applause was deafening, the guests pushed back their chairs and turned to the speaker\u2019s table expectantly. The Master of Ceremonies unfolded the cablegram and read the message:<\/p>\n
\u201cGreetings. Calvin Coolidge.\u201d<\/p>\n
6356<\/b> Spartan\u2019s Laconic Reply<\/b><\/p>\n
The Spartans were noted for their brusque and sententious speech. When Philip of Macedon wrote to the Spartan magistrates, \u201cIf I enter Laconia, I will level Lacedaemon to the ground,\u201d the ephors wrote back the single word, \u201cIf.\u201d<\/p>\n
6357<\/b> Spartan\u2019s Generous Response<\/b><\/p>\n
Once a neighboring island in the Aegean Sea was struck by a famine and the population sent an envoy to Sparta to ask for help. He made a long speech describing the distress of the islanders but the Spartans sent him back empty-handed and told him:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have forgotten the beginning of your speech and we understood nothing at the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
The famine-stricken population sent another envoy to Sparta urging him to be as concise as possible in his request. He took a lot of empty flour bags with him and opening one for the Assembly of Sparta, he said: \u201cIt is empty. Please fill it.\u201d Which the Spartans immediately did and they filled the other bags as well, but before he left the chairman of the assembly told him: \u201cYou need not have pointed out to us that your bags were empty. We would have seen it, anyway. It was not necessary to ask us to fill them. We would have done so, anyway. Remember, if you come another time do not talk so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
6358<\/b> Abernathy Meets His Match<\/b><\/p>\n
Dr. Abernathy, the famous Scottish surgeon, was a man of few words, but he once met his match in a woman. She called at his office in Edinburgh one day and showed a hand, badly inflamed and swollen. The following dialogue, opened by the doctor, took place:<\/p>\n
\u201cBurn?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBruise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoultice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day the woman called again, and the dialogue was as follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWorse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMore poultice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two days later the woman made another call, and this conversation ensued:<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell. Fee?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d exclaimed the doctor. \u201cMost sensible woman I ever met!\u201d<\/p>\n
6359<\/b> Wellington Got His Answer<\/b><\/p>\n
The Duke of Wellington wrote to Dr. Hutton for information as to the scientific acquirements of a young officer who had been under his instructions. The Doctor thought he could not do less than answer the question verbally, and made an appointment accordingly. When Wellington saw him he said, \u201cI am obliged to you, Doctor, for the trouble you have taken. Is ___ fit for the post?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clearing his throat, Dr. Hutton began, \u201cNo man more so; I can \u2026 \u201d \u201cThat\u2019s quite sufficient,\u201d said Wellington. \u201cI know how valuable your time is; mine just now, is equally so. I will not detain you any longer. Good morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
6360<\/b> How To Lose A Speech<\/b><\/p>\n
Chauncey Depew, the renowned after-dinner speaker, once played a trick on Mark Twain when they were both scheduled to speak at a banquet. Twain spoke first and was received with great enthusiasm. <\/p>\n
When Depew\u2019s turn came, he stood up and said, \u201cMr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen, before this dinner, Mark Twain and I agreed to trade speeches. He has just delivered mine and I\u2019m grateful for the way you have received it. However, I regret to say that I\u2019ve lost his speech and can\u2019t remember a thing he had to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
He sat down amid much applause. <\/p>\n
6361<\/b> To Remember When He Started<\/b><\/p>\n
At a banquet Alben Barkley once took out his large, gold watch and placed it with elaborate gestures upon the lectern. \u201cBy looking at this,\u201d he explained, \u201cI can tell how long I have been talking\u2014if I can remember when I started.\u201d<\/p>\n
6362<\/b> A Calendar Behind<\/b><\/p>\n
At a dinner in New York, Will Rogers, the humorist, was toastmaster. Many speakers were scheduled and so each agreed to speak only 8 minutes. One speaker went on and on for 45 minutes before he wound up with \u201cMr. Toastmaster, I\u2019m sorry if I overstayed my time, but I left my watch at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Rogers hunched forward, furrowed his brow, and said, friendly-like, \u201cThere was a calendar behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n
6363<\/b> Waiting For Posterity<\/b><\/p>\n
On one occasion, a dull and long-winded member of Congress said to Henry Clay, \u201cYou, sir, speak for the present generation, but I speak for posterity.\u201d To which Clay responded, \u201cAnd it seems that you are resolved to keep on speaking until your audience arrives.\u201d<\/p>\n
6364<\/b> Who Gets Tired First? <\/b><\/p>\n
James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet, and a fellow writer were discussing their platform experiences. <\/p>\n
The other fellow confessed that his engagement had not been too successful. He asked Riley, who had several times been present on these occasions, to point out the trouble. \u201cWhy are you such a success,\u201d he concluded, \u201cwhile my talks fall flat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d said Jim, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you the big reason, as I see it: I talk until I get tired\u2014you talk until the audience gets tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
6365<\/b> Making The Rounds Of Texas<\/b><\/p>\n
One of President Johnson\u2019s favorite stories is about the late Senator Tom Connally of Texas. As the President tells it, Connally, in a speech \u201cdown home,\u201d started talking about the beautiful, piney woods of east Texas, moved on through the bluebonnets and out to the plains, then through the hill country to the Gulf, and started again on the piney woods of east Texas. <\/p>\n
While he was thus making the rounds of the state for about the third time, an old man stood up in the back of the room and shouted to Connally, \u201cWhen you pass Lubbock the next time, will you kindly let me off?\u201d<\/p>\n
6366<\/b> Hogging The Time<\/b><\/p>\n
Martin Littleton, the attorney, was the second of two scheduled speakers at a barristers\u2019 banquet not so long ago. The first guest orated at such length that everybody was ready to go home by the time Littleton, justifiably enraged, got the floor. \u201cI\u2019ll confine my remarks to a single story,\u201d he declared. \u201cOne day when I was a boy, my father was throwing whole carrots to his hogs by the barrelful. A neighbor criticized this procedure. \u201cDon\u2019t give \u2019em whole carrots, you fool,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019d cut them up and cook them, the hogs could digest them in half the time.\u201d My father\u2019s simple retort was, \u201cWhat\u2019s time to a hog?\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Littleton believes that his fellow speaker got the point. <\/p>\n
6367<\/b> Limiting Humphrey<\/b><\/p>\n
When Sen. Hubert Humphrey was asked to limit a commencement speech to 12 minutes, he said, \u201cThe last time I spoke for only 12 minutes was when I said hello to my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
6368<\/b> Inversed Preparation Time<\/b><\/p>\n
Someone asked Woodrow Wilson how long he would prepare for a ten-minute speech. He said, \u201cTwo weeks.\u201d \u201cHow long for an hour\u2019s speech?\u201d \u201cOne week.\u201d \u201cHow long for a two-hour speech?\u201d \u201cI am ready now.\u201d<\/p>\n
6369<\/b> Cock Or Frog<\/b><\/p>\n
Tzu-Ch\u2019in asked Mecius, \u201cIs it because of quantity that words become precious?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mencius said, \u201cFrogs croak day and night, yet men loathe them. But when the cock crows only once, everything under the sky comes into motion. It is important to speak at the proper time, and that is all. What is the good of talking much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Mencius<\/p>\n
6370<\/b> On The Hippopotamus<\/b><\/p>\n
A woman visitor to the Zoo had been unable to get any intelligent replies from the new keeper. Finally she ventured one more question. \u201cIs that hippopotamus,\u201d she asked, \u201ca female?\u201d \u201cThat, madam,\u201d replied the keeper, \u201cis a question which should interest only another hippopotamus.\u201d<\/p>\n
6371<\/b> Epigram On Talking (Brevity)<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 A speech is like a wheel\u2014the longer the spoke, the greater the tire. <\/p>\n
\u2014Telegram<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2022 When speaking, do not confuse the seating capacity of the hall with the sitting capacity of the audience. <\/p>\n
\u2014Noel Wical<\/p>\n
\u2022 A sign on the speaker\u2019s table read, Stand up\u2014Speak up\u2014Shut up! <\/p>\n
See also:<\/b> Rumors ; Talkativeness ; Jas. 3:6, 8; Rev. 13:5, 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision. \u2014Titus 1:10 6297 Non-Stop Talking Records Irishman Kevin Sheenham of Limerick, Pa., in 1955 set a world record for nonstop talking\u2014133 hours. This record is now broken by Tim Harty of Coon Rapids, Minn., whose record in 1975 was\u2014144 hours. … Continue reading “TALKING”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}