Thursday, May 17, 2007

overkilling "Madam Chair"


Every meeting as I listen and watch with amazement at my summer kids speak and debate with improved public speaking skills, I notice that while some had junked "ladies and gentlemen" and "at the end of the day" in place of "uh--uhmm.." some had sneaked in a new crutch in place of those redundancies and are now dotting their speeches with "Madam Chair" after every short phrase.


This being the case, Madam Chair, I strongly suggest Madam Chair, that using too much of this expression Madam Chair will blur the meaning or the message that you are trying to express Madam Chair.


When the overuse of this expression Madam Chair becomes too much Madam Chair we are actually "overkilling" the phrase Madam Chair and that if we do not do something about this Madam Chair to eradicate this nasty phrase Madam Chair then I am afraid Madam Chair that we might end up not saying anything Madam Chair.
Redundancies and unnecessary body movements seldom happen in the Oregon-Oxford type of debate where students get to do research, write, edit and practice delivering his or her specch a month or so before the debate.

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