Liz Warren really wants you to ‘look’
Sen. whips out speech tactics five times in a six minute interview
“Look,” Elizabeth Warren repeats as if she’s delivering a lecture to sleepy freshmen, is a verbal tactic she’s recently used on TV, speech experts say.
She said “look” or “so look” five times in a 6-anda-half minute interview on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” show where she basically warned Democrats are in for a mid-term shellacking if they don’t wake up. So what’s up with look? “There is research on what is called priming — that if you use a word, or a theme, a lot people begin to think that way,” said John Daly, a University of Texas communications professor who has written a book about persuasion.
“Look” could also be a way to “amplify the statement or point which follows, is delivered with force to guide the listener, and would be received as adamant,” said Laura Purcell Verdun, a speech-language pathologist who owns Voicetrainer.
“The question is whether or not this is intentional and then to what end. Or is it utilized as a classic filler word which does not carry any particular meaning,” Verdun added. “The listener needs to decide whether repeated use of ‘look’ is effective in promoting the Senator and her message or whether it detracts.”
Matthew S. McGlone, also a Ph.D. and University of Texas professor, said “look” could be “a polite way of saying ‘Why can’t you see this.’
“Or this is ‘painfully obvious.’ It’s also a lot better than saying ‘Why the hell can’t you see this,'” McGlone told the Herald. “It’s used to try to express some communal nature but it doesn’t make it any less irritating.”