Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (September/ October 2017) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “TheArticulate Professional-3rd Edition”):

1. truculent

2. flaccid
3. supplicant
4. certitude
5. discomfit
6. august

“If the Supreme Court’s Last Term Looked Like a Desert, This New Term Already Looks Like a Tropical Rainforest”; “The Natural Regenerative Juices of Capitalism”—Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

Here are some examples of highly effective communicators using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative analogies, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter. 

• A couple of days ago, while discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming new term on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday,” Nina Totenberg saying: “If last year’s Supreme Court term was so dry of interesting cases that it looked like a desert, this term, which opens Monday, already looks like a tropical rainforest. And the justices are only halfway to filling up their docket.” [Totenberg then went on to mention some of the numerous controversial cases that lie ahead, such as partisan gerrymandering, privacy in an age of technology, the right of a same-sex couple to buy a specially created wedding cake versus a bakery’s right to refuse the order...] 

 

• [From my 2011 archives.] Warren Buffet telling Susie Gharib of PBS’s “Nightly Business Report”: “By far the most important factor in coming out of any recession is what I call ‘the natural regenerative juices of capitalism’--people like millions of Americans trying to think of some way to do better for their families and do better for their customers. It’s always worked and will continue to work.”

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

 

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (July/ August 2017) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since early August? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3rdEdition”):

1. indecorous

2. platitudinous
3. palpable
4. calcified
5. fusillade
6. encomium

High-Impact Public Speaking: a 30-Second Clip Displaying Stunning Vocal Variety by the Great Christopher Plummer

[Rewritten September 13, 2017]
The video clip below is from “The Exception,” a recent movie set in 1940 and centered on the last German Kaiser (Wilhelm II, played by actor extraordinaire Christopher Plummer) who, at the time, was living in exile in Holland.  

Background: For much of the 30-second clip, you see the Plummer character in a rage--he is fulminating because, moments earlier, a young guest at the dinner table had (naively) spoken about the privations suffered by his family in the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in WWI. To the Kaiser, the lament is a personal affront and hence the tantrum. [The opening words in the clip: “And this is my thanks? Nobody cares! My navy betrayed me...my army fell apart...”] 

Discussion of Plummer’s exemplary display of vocal variety, which is a key ingredient of highly effective public speaking: Beginning at the nine-second mark, we hear the Kaiser blame (General) Ludendorff, (Naval Minister) Tirpitz, and one other former official for his nation’s defeat, followed by “They stabbed me in the back. They lost me the war.” Then comes one of the most exceptional demonstrations of vocal variety I’ve ever seen: To give strong emphasis to his concluding words “They lost me my country,” Plummer takes a long, pregnant pause before uttering them in a dramatically lower voice volume and pitch. Public speaking at its absolute finest! 

BTW, just last week, one of my clients (an executive VP at a large healthcare firm here in Houston) was inspired by this very clip to inject some extraordinary--and extremely effective--vocal variety during the conclusion of a pep talk to her employees.

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

 

 

Neil Gorsuch Sure Doesn’t Know How to Pick a Necktie; If You Have a Low-Contrast Face, Like His, You Can do Much Better!

Neil Gorsuch, the newest addition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s lofty bench of nine justices, is undoubtedly one of the finest and most competent jurists in the land. But with respect to attire--specifically, in the matter of picking a necktie for, say, special occasions--I’m afraid this judge extraordinaire doesn’t seem to have a clue.

[Yes, some aspects of Neil Gorsuch’s ideology are antithetical to mine. Yet, I must admit, I was extremely impressed by the gravitas he displayed during his Senate confirmation hearings this past March.]

Discussion of the clip below, which is from early February when, following his nomination by President Trump, Gorsuch began calling on prominent U.S. senators, as do all Supreme Court nominees prior to their confirmation hearings. The moment you launch the video clip--I’m afraid it’s only three seconds long--your eyes will be captured by Gorsuch’s extremely high contrast tie. Of course, you will then look at his face but only momentarily because the low center of gravity of his overall attire (thanks to that attention grabbing neckwear) will force down your gaze and keep it there.

If you’ve read some of my previous posts on men’s attire, you’ll see my point. If not, and for tips on how someone who, like Gorsuch, has a low contrast visage can sharply enhance their appearance and add a glow to their face, start with the November 27, 2011, post and then look at some of the more recent ones bearing the label “men’s attire.” You’ll find the ones featuring Sen. Bob Corker to be particularly useful.

A request to any reader who has a hotline to Justice Gorsuch: Please convey the following offer to the illustrious judge: “Even though I do not share some of your extremely conservative ideology, I’ll be thrilled to give you a free coaching session on how to sharpen your appearance. The only cost to you: the roundtrip fare from Houston to Washington D.C.”

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

 

 









 

O.J. Simpson's palpable emotion after being granted parole on July 20, 2017

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the May/June 2017 of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since about a month ago? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3rdEdition”):

1. abstruse

2. bellicose
3. smorgasbord
4. egomaniacal
5. saliency
6. obeisant

 

“Trying to Remodel the Kitchen While You’re Also Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner”; “Powerful Women are like Napalm to me”; “the Picasso of Passive-Aggressive Karate”--Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One’s Point

[Rewritten July 31, 2017]

Here are some recent examples of highly effective communicators using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative analogies, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

• Discussing the steep challenges being faced during the construction of an all-new terminal complex at Salt Lake City International Airport, their Director of Operations, Peter Higgins, telling PBS’s “Nightly Business Report” earlier this year: “In many cases--airports particularly--you end up building on the same footprint you're occupying. So, oftentimes, you're trying to remodel the kitchen while you're trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner!”

 

• [From my 2014 archives.] In response to Charlie Rose’s comment “You also create good roles for women,” famous movie director David O. Russell saying: “Yes, powerful women have become the napalm to me as a filmmaker...Melissa Leo in ‘The Fighter,’ Amy Adams in ‘American Hustle,’ Jennifer Lawrence in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ and ‘American Hustle’... Powerful women who can clean your clock in a way you never see coming. They can surprise you; they can, as Irving (Christian Bale’s character in ‘American Hustle’) says of the Jennifer Lawrence character: ‘She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate.’ I love every aspect of (Jennifer and Amy)--from the glamor to the rawness.” 

   

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

 

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Just realized that I had not announced in this blog the last edition (March/ April 2017) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature. It has been online since the end of March. Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The ArticulateProfessional-3rd Edition”): 

1. tribune

2. vapid
3. redolent
4. sophomoric
5. mendacious
6. vivify

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (January/ February 2017) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since about a month ago? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3rdEdition”):

1. studied

2. detritus
3. assuage
4. inexplicable
5. predilection
6. volte-face

 

 

 

“Great Art Has Been Put Into a Coma”; “Sears is Like the Mythical Headless Horseman Wandering Aimlessly In the Night Looking for its Lost, Never-To-Be-Found Head”--Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One's Point

[Rewritten on May 27, 2017]

Here are some recent examples of highly effective communicators using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative use of the language, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

 

• (From a BBC TV news report earlier this year) Commenting on the Geneva Freeport--one of the largest such fortified storage facilities in the world and which houses in secrecy over a million works of art (including hundreds of Picassos), most of which are destined not to be seen by the public for decades--a curator lamenting: “Great art has been put into a coma.”

 

A quick 101 on “free ports”: Described by some as “the greatest museums no one can see,” free ports are tax-free facilities for goods in transit and, according to the BBC, these are places “where the super-rich can secretly store their priceless art works that often include smuggled, even Nazi-looted, paintings. (As a result) great masterpieces can be incarcerated here for decades!” Thus, these free ports are a serious impediment to stamping out the illegal art trade.

 

• With reference to the fast declining fortunes of Sears (stock price plummeting over 40% in the past year and 70% in the most recent three years; sales down from $41b in 2012 to $22b in 2016), Mark Cohen, former CEO of Sears Canada and now a marketing professor at Columbia Business School, telling PBS’s “Nightly Business Report” this past winter: “Sears Holding is like the mythical headless horseman wandering aimlessly in the night looking for its lost, never-to-be-found head.”

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (November/December 2016) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since the Thanksgiving holidays? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The ArticulateProfessional-3rd Edition”): 

1. exigent

2. galvanic
3. recrimination
4. nadir
5. hypercritical
6. inapposite

Video Clip of Top Exec Using Assertive Hand Gestures to Convince His Audience and Disabuse it of Wrong Notions

[Rewritten on February 26, 2017]

The clip below, which I recently “rediscovered” while combing through my archives, features then U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood giving an exemplary and instructive performance at a 2010 Congressional hearing. He appears at the 1 minute 5 second mark.

Whether you are a top corporate executive, a manager or supervisor, or, say, a low-profile environmentalist addressing a bunch of misguided climate change deniers, Ray LaHood’s hand gestures will be a valuable addition to your “nonverbal vocabulary” for accentuating your most important words and sentences during a meeting, Q&A, and the like.

Among the infinite variety of situations where LaHood-style emphatic gestures, especially palms vertical in a rigid slicing motion, can be eminently useful:

• when trying to convince, reassure, or inspire someone
• when trying to rid people of their disbelief or incredulity
• when reinforcing or underscoring a key statement
• when giving an oral guarantee

You can bet that in future executive coaching sessions, the LaHood clip will be one of my prized exhibits, especially when illustrating executive presence.

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

 

 

“A Deep-Sea Serengeti”; “It’s Like a Dr. Seussian World Down There”—The First Marine National Monument in the Atlantic Engenders Brilliant Analogies

[Rewritten on February 22, 2017]

The creation of the nation’s first marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean last September engendered tremendous excitement among anyone and everyone who wants to preserve some of the beauty that exists in our oceans. The event also generated some wonderful and imaginative use of similes and metaphors. 

Known as the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and measuring nearly 5,000 square miles (the size of Connecticut), this underwater world, which is located off Cape Cod, is probably more wondrous and mesmerizing than the treasures in Aladdin’s Cave. It contains “lush forests, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, vivid bubblegum-like corals, extinct volcanoes...” and a huge variety of sea life, some of it not found anywhere else on the planet. Not surprisingly, Brad Sewell and other environmental advocates have described these waters as “a deep-sea Serengeti”; “an underwater Yellowstone”; and “a Dr. Seussian world.” 

For more, visit NPR’s September 15 report on the subject by clicking here. 

© Copyright 2017  V. J. Singal

“We’ll be in a Hailstorm of Footwear Before Election Day”; “a David Without a Slingshot”; “The Internet is a Battlespace, as are Land, Air, and Sea”--Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One's Point

Here are some recent examples of highly effective communicators using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative use of the language, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

 

• Appearing on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, October 9 (two days after the leak of that 2005 hot mic tape of Donald Trump making lewd comments about women), John Heilemann of Bloomberg Politics saying: “There will (probably) be worse Donald Trump tapes between now and Election Day, and there will probably be worse Hillary Clinton emails between now and Election Day... There are more shoes to drop. We will be in a hailstorm of footwear before we get to November 8.”

• Commenting on the Syrian rebels, who have been valiantly resisting President Assad’s Russian-backed military, former Defense Secretary William Cohen telling BBC last month: “The Syrian rebels are David against Goliath, but they are a David without a slingshot!”

 

• Talking about state-sponsored cyberattacks and why some nations, most notably Russia and China, seem to be getting the better of us, Fran Townsend, former Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, saying on “Face the Nation”: “(The problem is) that we are not treating the Internet as a battlespace as we do land, air, and sea....(The U.S. must realize) that the Internet is a battlespace that we have to fight to control and win!”

 © Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal

 

Vocabulary Expansion Words: New Edition of “Words of the Month”

Have you checked out the latest edition (September/October 2016) of “Words of the Month,” my free vocabulary enrichment feature, which has been online since this past weekend? Here are the six featured words, all of which lie within the conversational vocabulary of America’s most articulate (as is the case with all of the words featured in my book, “The Articulate Professional-3rdEdition”):

1. totemic

2. searing
3. protracted
4. atrophied
5. grandiloquent
6. dragoon

I believe you will absolutely love the word “totemic,” my new favorite word!

Video of a Perfect Handshake; Yes, it’s “Three Pumps” Regardless of Gender!

As emphasized in my previous post on the subject, which featured a clip of Brian Williams shaking hands with the wife of then Republican nominee Mitt Romney, yes, it’s three pumps regardless of gender. 

In my seminars on how to create a highly favorable first impression, how to enhance your executive presence, and other related topics, invariably some participants express incredulity when I tell them that the perfect handshake constitutes three pumps even when it’s a guy shaking hands with a woman. The video clip below shows Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren doing a three-pump handshake with a store employee. (Some may quibble, saying that his is approximately three and a half pumps!) 

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal
 

 

“As if Some Flying Saucer Had Landed on Top of That Tower”; “It Was the Web Equivalent of a 100-Year Flood”--Use of Visual, Evocative Expression to Emphasize One's Point

Here are some recent examples of highly effective communicators using a vivid, evocative expression while emphasizing something and thus making their assertion indelible--examples which, I hope, will inspire the rest of us into similarly imaginative use of the language, especially when we are trying to break through the clutter.

 

• At a memorial service held on August 1 to mark the 50^th anniversary of the shooting massacre at UT Austin’s Clock Tower, Texas Congressman Lloyd Doggett (who was a student on campus on the day of the shooting) saying: “This massacre, we need to remember, occurred before terms like gun violence, mass shootings, or SWAT teams were even a part of our regular vocabulary. This campus attack was unprecedented...it was as unexpected for us in the university community and for our police dept. as if some flying saucer had landed up there on top of that tower.” 

 

• Earlier this month, while presenting his “Brief but Spectacular” view of The New Yorker to PBS “NewsHour,” the magazine’s editor David Remnick saying: “...Everybody does his or her job in a moment in time. My moment in time is not only to make the magazine as great as it possibly can be but help us cross this technological and even financial roaring river of change. The Internet is at the center of everybody’s attention... and I have to leave a New Yorker that’s got its soul as well as its technological act together.”

 

• (this one from my 2013 archives) Describing the events of Sept. 11, 2001--also known as 9/11--journalist and author Molly Knight Raskin telling PBS “NewsHour”:  “Websites were being swamped and overwhelmed by people desperate to get information on their loved ones...there was a crush of requests; it was the web equivalent of a 100-year flood! In fact, CNN.com and other well-known news websites crashed that morning.”

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal

My Answer to Yesterday’s Quick Quiz

To make sense of this post, you need to first read the previous one, which lays out the context in which NBC reporter Katy Tur mistakenly used vociferously when she meant a similar sounding but completely different word.

 

There is no question that the word she had in mind was voraciously. And one of the definitions for voracious: exceedingly eager or avid; insatiable. [This sense is from the second edition (1995) of my book “The Articulate_® Professional.” Voracious is not featured in the book’s latest edition.]

 

By substituting voraciously for vociferously, her sentence “You know Donald Trump watches the news and reads headlines about himself voraciously, so it’s no surprise he is going to come out and push back...” makes perfect sense. 

 

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal

Quick Quiz: Which Word Did NBC Reporter Katy Tur Have in Mind When She Misspoke and Uttered “Vociferously” While Talking About Donald Trump? Another Case of “Synaptic Malfunction”

At the outset, let me state categorically that this post has absolutely no ideological underpinnings. In other words, this “quick quiz” is purely to test your command of the language and it has nothing to do with politics.  

Now to the video clip below. After Katy Tur starts speaking (at about the 13-second mark), you will hear her use the word “vociferously” which is clearly inapplicable in the context. [If you’d like to review the definition of vociferous and a few examples illustrating its use, click here.] 

Can you guess which similar sounding word Tur had in mind? [Hint: the first two characters are “vo”] Tune in to this blog tomorrow--Monday--for the answer.  

[Here is a transcript of what you’ll hear from Katy Tur in that August 3, 2016, excerpt: “You know Donald Trump watches the news and reads headlines about himself vociferously, so it’s no surprise he is going to come out and push back...”] 

Incidentally, the above is a case of what I call “synaptic misfire,” just as happened to Senator Cruz a month ago (click here for that quick quiz) and to President Obama during a “60 Minutes” interview about five years ago, when he mistakenly uttered denigrate in place of a similar sounding word. [See the “Quick Quiz” post of May 15,2011.]

 

© Copyright 2016  V. J. Singal