Everyday Eloquence

by Jay Speyerer

Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is like the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.” But that lightning can come in a bottle; eloquence can be a small thing.

World War II. Bastogne, France, in December of 1944. The Germans demanded that U.S. Army General Anthony McAuliffe surrender his surrounded division at the Battle of the Bulge. The general's defiant reply: “Nuts!”

Multiple Choices

It has been said that oratory is the art of making deep noises from the chest sound like important messages from the brain. Many of us equate eloquence with Elmer Gantry style intensity and hyperbolic, sesquipedalian verbosity. Maybe it's because of the inventory available to us. Consider this: the French language has fewer than 100,000 words. German has around 185,000. In contrast, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) lists about 500,000 words. We have half a million words to choose from, but we don't need to use all of them.

Sometimes, though, the big words do provide the bonus of being economical. For instance, I just used the phrase "hyperbolic, sesquipedalian verbosity" (3 words) to impart the idea of "using inflated or exaggerated terms in the form of words with many syllables" (13 words).

Those three words are longer than usual and a trifle uncommon, yet they are precise. Precision of meaning is a prerequisite for eloquence. One source of that precision is the shades of meaning provided by those half million words in the OED. Consider the possible verbs we can call into action to describe “the act of requesting information.” If you want to know what time it is, you “ask” the guy who has a watch. If his watch looks suspiciously like one you own but can’t find, you might ratchet up the intensity and “question” the person as to where he acquired his timepiece. If you’re sure he stole your watch, call the police and let them “interrogate” the scoundrel.

Faulkner, Hemingway, and Churchill

Big words can be used with eloquent results, but it's not a given. Ten-dollar words do not ensure eloquence, yet the fifty-cent words can galvanize an entire nation. In 1940, Winston Churchill gave a radio address to the people of England about the threat from Germany. He said: "We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." No ten-dollar words here; they’re all effective, no-nonsense fifty-centers. And they work.

Churchill may have chosen these words for a specific reason. In their book, The Story of English, Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil tell us that all but two words in Churchill's speech (confidence and surrender) are of Anglo-Saxon origin. The theory is that the English citizens would respond on a deeper level to words that match their heritage.

William Faulkner once disparaged Ernest Hemingway’s writing style by saying that Hemingway “had never been known to use a word that might send the reader to the dictionary.” Hemingway's response: "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use." Why? Why use the old and simple words? Because there is less chance for misunderstanding. There can be no alternative interpretation of Churchill's words. He was saying: We will fight the enemy to the end … anywhere.

Know Your Audience

Many people hold a negative opinion (or think they do) of eloquence and of public speaking in general. Ben Franklin said: “Here comes the orator with his flood of words and his drop of reason.” Unfortunately, we have all heard speeches in which the presenter uses many words to say next to nothing. Use only as many words as you need. The important thing here is picking the right words for your audience.

In Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil and Daniel Webster, the famed lawyer and orator defended a farmer who had sold his soul to the devil. After arguing with the devil while passing a jug back and forth in the farmer’s kitchen, Daniel found himself arguing his case right then and there. The devil had hand picked his jury of damned souls, all of whom, he was sure, would find in his favor. The jury trooped into the kitchen and listened to Mr. Webster’s defense. Dan'l took that jury and made them remember what it was like to be alive and human:

…and to each one of that jury he spoke of things long forgotten. For his voice could search the heart, and that was his gift and his strength. And to one, his voice was like the forest and its secrecy, and to another like the sea and the storms of the sea; and one heard the cry of his lost nation in it, and another saw a little harmless scene he hadn't remembered for years. But each saw something.

The jury found in favor of Mr. Webster. Dan'l knew his audience, and he knew what would move them.

Churchill once said, “Short words are best, and old words, when short, are best of all.” So if someone tells you that you need big words to impress your audience, just look him in the eye and say…“Nuts!”
 

© 2006 Jay Speyerer
www.legacyroad.net

Jay Speyerer specializes in helping people achieve their communication goals in fiction writing, e-mail, cross-cultural communication, presentation skills, and memoir writing. In addition to his book, The Stories of Our Days, Jay has written short stories, screenplays, essays, and articles, has conducted writing workshops, and has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. You can reach Jay at 412-429-3432 or jay@legacyroad.net. His web site is www.legacyroad.net.

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