Anchors can learn from Churchill

Dear Editor:

I read with interest Paul Crossley’s letter to the editor regarding repeated usage of the cliché “You know.” ( Herald, Sept. 18).

This phrase is often used because the speaker lacks the vocabulary to express their thoughts. In the case of well-educated people who do have the vocabulary, it usually means that they haven’t thought through what they want to say before they start to speak.

I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s speeches. His speaking style is often referred to as great oratory, but the reality was much starker. People who worked closely with him or were invited to his home, report that he always spoke the same way, even in private.

When he was a teenager, Churchill had a bad stammer. His wealthy family sent him to a doctor who was renowned as the best speech therapist in the UK at the time. He taught Churchill a style of speaking designed to conceal his stammer. He was instructed to try to restrict himself to words of one or two syllables.

He should use three-syllable words sparingly and do his best to avoid four-syllable words. He should never try to use words of more than four syllables. He was taught to plan what he intended to say before speaking and to restrict himself to six words or less at a time.

He was to speak the first batch of words slowly and carefully one syllable at a time. Then he was to pause, collect his thoughts for the next batch of words and continue in the same manner.

Thus in his famous Battle of Britain speech, his first phrase was “Never before” which he uttered as “Nev – er – bee – fore.” He then paused for his next phrase “in the field of human conflict” which he spoke as “in – the – field – of – hu – man – con – flict”. It served him well.

Few members of the public were aware that he had a speech impediment.

Brian Butler

Penticton