I think I’ve come to the conclusion that people just like to hear themselves talk, but they don’t like to hear what they say. For instance: I heard an advertisement the other day that said, “And now every month my payment is exactly the same every time” – I think it had to do with a mortgage company or something.
The person talking apparently had different payments each month, and now they have the same. It’s clear enough, but I don’t get the need for the whole sentence as provided. The first part (dropping “every time”) is fine. As is the last part (leaving “every month”). But saying “every month…every time” is redundant.
I think people start off with good intentions. But somewhere in the middle, they forget how they started, and they have to tack on extra information at the end to make sure they get everything.
Are our attention spans really so bad that we can’t listen to an entire sentence, even when we are the ones speaking? That’s horrible! Come on people, pay attention – at least to yourself. And when you do, you’ll actually be able to say the same thing with fewer words, which in turn means that you’ll likely not have to pay attention as long. It’s a win-win situation!
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One response to “We Talk too Much”
Let us not forget that speaking is a rough draft. No edits or grammar checks have been made.
In my Toastmasters group we have a goal to wipe out the phrase, “I would like to…”
If you would like to, then do it. How many people, in prepared speeches, say, “I would like to thank…” or “I would like to introduce…” If you want to thank someone, thank them. If you want to introduce someone, then introduce them.