Yes, yes and yes.
If I were to say, “Yo motha-f$%ker” every time I greeted you - your perception of me would be negative. The way you talk influences the people around you. If every second word out of your mouth is a swear word, people will begin to think of you as lower class. Rich people can be lower class, if that’s what you’re thinking. You want to be highbrow. Someone of superior learning and culture. Just because someone is rich doesn’t make then high class. You need to deserve that right.
If you’ve watched the olden day version of My Fair Lady, adapted from the play Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, then you would see how Mr. Higgens transformed a simple flower girl to be thought of as a foreign princess. He thought her how to act, dress, and most importantly talk and that changed the way people treated her. From showing her disgust to treating her as delicately as a flower.
So the way you talk might potentially be hurting your personal profile or improving it.
A few tips to help you speak properly.
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Don’t swear.
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Don’t drop your h’s. ” ‘ave a good day”
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Always say please and thank you (basic good manners)
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Pronounce your words properly. Any basic online website dictionary has the correct pronunciation for each word.
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Use proper sentence structure. “It’s not them books but those books.“
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Don’t use colloquial language. Formal language is so much more pleasant to hear. ‘Howdy’ or ‘Heya’ isn’t formal, “How are you” would be the proper term for it.
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Increase your vocabulary. Make a point to learn a new word every day (we’ll be starting this shortly so you can just keep on checking back to this blog)!
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Don’t talk about sex or religion unless someone else starts the discussion first. You might make other people feel rather uncomfortable if you approach the subject without their prior consent.
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If you have nothing smart to say. Rather say nothing. Silence is golden.
If you have any other tips on how to speak properly, please feel free to share them, also, subscribe to our RSS feed or through email so you can keep up to date with the blog - we have exciting articles coming your way.
July 13th, 2008
6 Comments at "Does the way you talk affect peoples perceptions of you?"
Thanks for the good advice. Working in inner city schools for the last 4 years I have seen a lot of this. They are really great kids but they have this rep that they think they need to keep up and it makes them sound poor and uneducated. They are not, but you know what it leads to? Poor and uneducated behavior. It is incredibly frustrating and easy to burn out in.
I completely agree Prof, I find it frustrating it as well. While everyone swears occasionally it shouldn’t be used in general. Somehow people need to show off though and that’s the normal norm, quite sad
Thanks for the comment!
The fact that John “Darth Vader” McCain talks to me like a teeny weeny little child that could not possibly understand the problems of this dark and scary world really really annoys me.
So the way you talk and people talk to you affects everything.
I have a belief that you should be honest, understanding and a keen listener. This works for me :).
About my personal profile…. here in Montreal it is best for me to speak by dropping my h’s and t’s and speaking in slang… See I am from the UK and it seems to be a plus point for me to sound as London as possible!!!!!
[...] it approaches a few things I’d like to or have discussed with you, in my last post “Does the way you talk influence people’s perceptions of you?” I said that the way you talk, gives people a certain opinion of you. In this clip you can [...]
Forest - lol
There is a saying, I think, that what works for someone doesn’t work for others.
As long as you’re yourself!
Thanks for stopping by
Great post Jovana!
Similar to what Coach commented, often people are affected and inlfuenced by the people they’re around. I know I’ve been guilty of talking *differently* around different groups of friends. Sometimes if subjetced to obscenities for too long, you start to pick it up subconsciously, like any habit.
Always being aware of what you’re doing/saying is key.
@ Forest: LOL @ slang being a plus for you. The locals eat up your accent and give you deals and freebies?
Cheers!
Jay
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