By Richard Tardif
In June of 2017, I was evaluated by a professional speaker at a gala event where I spoke for six minutes. In his eloquent, to the point manner, he described me as a goofy speaker, dropping Gs and digging up Trees, dawdling my voice in murmurs and mutters, and perhaps some deliberation should be given to joining a Toastmaster’s club?
This smooth-tongued wordsmith asked me to review the video of my speech. To my revelation, I did leave out the H in the following words: Three (tree), think (tink), and this (tis) and thing (ting). While I did sound the G in my chopped-up Ting, I dropped the G in the following words: Volunteering (Volunteerin), happening (happenin), welcoming (welcomin). There were moments in the video when the audience was squinting to hear words, especially at the end of sentences, drifting, or dawdling as they were.
G-dropping
Clearly, G-dropping is not a drop-all attempt to make words shorter, nor is it a lazy way of speaking. It is a very persistent preservation of the Old English “ENDE” present participle that was once prevalent in opera and poetry. Many people don’t pronounce it unless it is part of the root of the word. In the root word ring or sting the G is often left out, but in ringing or stinging, the G is pronounced. The English “ING” ending should sound like the “IN” in the Spanish word “CINCO”, where your throat closes up just before you get to the last syllable “CO”. Your tongue must not touch your teeth or the roof of your mouth when you end the word.
I did need Toastmasters
In an ice-breaker speech in my first sentence I said, “TIrteen years ago I found myself TInkin about school”. And then, “Have you ever been told TAT you’re too old for sometIN?” EveryTIN. Tinkin. Tank you. My Toastmaster evaluator mentioned that I did mumble, and muttered once or twice. She wasn’t certain, but she thought I had said, “Tinkin” instead of “thinking”. She was right. Her suggestion? Slow down. Practice the “ING’ sound. Be aware.
As with many toastmasters, after a few speeches, every word is finished as written, including “ING” and people think rather than TINK. The day my employer evaluated me, fairly, was the evaluation that led me to Toastmasters, where I am becoming a better speaker, discovering words and how to use them, which is a Toastmaster’s pledge to self-discovery – and sometimes I do look a bit goofy.
Richard Tardif is a member of Dorval City Toastmasters, in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. He is also a member of Beyond Words Advanced Toastmasters. One of his goals is to help people write and publish their books, and another is to mentor new members to Toastmasters.
