Talks on Talking

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Talks on Talking, by Grenville Kleiser

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Title: Talks on Talking
Author: Grenville Kleiser

Release Date: January 7, 2006 [eBook #17476]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TALKS ON TALKING
by
GRENVILLE KLEISER
Formerly Instructor in Public Speaking at Yale Divinity School, Yale University; author of "How to Speak in Public," "How to Develop Power and Personality in Speaking," "How to Develop Self-Confidence in Speech and Manner," "How to Argue and Win," "How to Read and Declaim," "Complete Guide to Public Speaking,"; etc.

Copyright, 1916, by Funk. & Wagnalls Company (Printed in the United States of America) Published, September, 1916 Copyright under the articles of the Copyright Convention of the Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910

CONTENTS
PAGE
THE ART OF TALKING 1
TYPES OF TALKERS 11
TALKERS AND TALKING 18
PHRASES FOR TALKERS 25
THE SPEAKING VOICE 34
HOW TO TELL A STORY 44
TALKING IN SALESMANSHIP 56
MEN AND MANNERISMS 63
HOW TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC 70
PRACTICAL HINTS FOR SPEAKERS 84
THE DRAMATIC ELEMENT IN SPEAKING 87
CONVERSATION AND PUBLIC SPEAKING 94
A TALK TO PREACHERS 100
CARE OF THE SPEAKER'S THROAT 108
DON'TS FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 116
DO'S FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 118
POINTS FOR SPEAKERS 120
THE BIBLE ON SPEECH 122
THOUGHTS ON TALKING 123

PREFACE
Good conversation implies naturalness, spontaneity, and sincerity of utterance. It is not advisable, therefore, to lay down arbitrary rules to govern talking, but it is believed that the suggestions offered here will contribute to the general elevation and improvement of daily speech.
Considering the large number of persons who are obliged to talk in social, business, and public life, the subject of correct speech should receive more serious consideration than is usually given to it. It is earnestly hoped that this volume will be of practical value to those who are desirous of developing and improving their conversational powers.
Appreciative thanks are expressed to the Editors of the Homiletic Review for permission to reprint some of the extracts.
GRENVILLE KLEISER.
NEW YORK CITY, MAY, 1916.
Boys flying kites haul in their white-wing'd birds: You can't do that way when you're flying words. "Careful with fire," is good advice we know; "Careful with words," is ten times doubly so. Thoughts unexpress'd may sometimes fall back dead, But God Himself can't kill them once they're said!
--Will Carleton.
The first duty of a man is to speak; that is his chief business in this world; and talk, which is the harmonious speech of two or more, is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing; it is all profit; it completes our education; it founds and fosters our friendships; and it is by talk alone that we learn our period and ourselves.
--Robert Louis Stevenson.
Vociferated logic kills me quite; A noisy man is always in the right-- I twirl my thumbs, fall back into my chair, Fix on the wainscot a distressful stare; And when I hope his blunders all are out, Reply discreetly, "To be sure--no doubt!"
--Anon.

TALKS ON TALKING

THE ART OF TALKING
The charm of conversation chiefly depends upon the adaptability of the participants. It is a great accomplishment to be able to enter gently and agreeably into the moods of others, and to give way to them with grace and readiness.
The spirit of conversation is oftentimes more important than the ideas expressed. What we are rather than what we say has the most permanent influence upon those around us. Hence it is that where a group of persons are met together in conversation, it is the inner life of each which silently though none the less surely imparts tone and character to the occasion.
It requires vigorous self-discipline so to cultivate the feelings of kindness and sympathy that they are always in readiness for use. These qualities are essential to agreeable and profitable intercourse, though comparatively few people possess them.
Burke considered manners of more importance than laws. Sidney Smith described manners as the shadows of virtues. Dean Swift defined manners as the art of putting at ease the people with whom we converse. Chesterfield said manners should adorn knowledge in order to smooth its way through the world. Emerson spoke of manners as composed of petty sacrifices.
We all recognize that a winning manner is made up of seemingly insignificant courtesies, and of constant little attentions. A person of charming manner is usually free from resentments, inquisitiveness, and moods.
Personality plays a large part in interesting conversation. Precisely the same phraseology expressed by two different persons may make two wholly different impressions, and all because of the difference in the personalities of the speakers.
The