I just finished reading your
column in the online paper. You brought up a great point. When I was back in
college at Lake Superior State University, I had a speech class. I don’t remember
the professor’s name, but I remember his face (gravelly), build (heavy), hair
(greasy) and his voice (deep and clear). We all were required to give a first
speech within one week of class on anything we chose to speak about. I found it
very interesting that after everyone in the class gave their first speech he
told us that we would fail the class if we used the word “like” in any other
speech in his class. He told us how many “you knows and likes” we had in that
speech. He had an uncanny ability to count the “you knows” while the students
spoke. He also GRADED us on how many “you knows” that we counted in each speech
that was given by our fellow classmates (and compared our counts to his). He
said exactly what you said: “Avoid using “like” and “you know” when all you are
doing is filling an empty space in speech with a meaningless noise without
purpose.”.
Although I am not as old
(read: experienced) as you, to this very day I still pay particular attention to
public speakers, especially if they use “like” in their speeches. I also try to
count the “you knows” but I know that I will miss some of them. When both of
daughters had speech in Rich High, I made certain to pound these two very simply
rules into them, just as it was pounded into my head back in 1984. That was 30
years ago, if you are counting (which I know you are). I don’t remember much
else about that class, but maybe that was the whole point….just to make sure we
paid attention to “likes and you knows”.
Scott Tollentino, Garden City
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