I really feel for Caroline Kennedy, you know?
As she's been angling for an appointment to the U.S. Senate, she's been derided for peppering her comments with a string of "you knows."
Kennedy is 51 and wants the U.S. Senate seat of Hillary Clinton, who is becoming the Secretary of State for Barack Obama's administration. Filling Clinton's seat is up to New York Gov. David Paterson.
Though filling the unexpired term is up to the governor, not voters, Kennedy has been on the stump, visiting throughout New York State and granting interviews. The interviews that have put her in less than a flattering light.
While she's been a little light on her position on certain issues, it's the "you knows" that have attracted the most attention. During an interview with the Associated Press, for example, she said "you know" 30 times within the span of 147 seconds.
Verbal tics -- the you knows, the ums and the uhs -- are a nervous need to fill a conversational void.
Drop a few "you knows" and it's not so bad. Drop too many and it becomes distracting to the point where you might think the speaker is ill-prepared or unsure of his or her point.
I've had the "you know" affliction for a long, long time. My mother took me aside years ago and advised it was something that I needed to edit from my vocabulary string, and I have to think hard about not doing it while I talk.
Words come out faster than the brain can think them, so I use a "you know" to give the brain time to catch up.
Not all us are great at speaking in public -- to a crowd of 100 or to one or two people in a social setting. I'm better off with 100 people because I'll speak from prepared notes or I'll purposely slow myself down to concentrate on what I'm saying and how I'm saying it.
Kennedy and I are in good company. Barack Obama is an "uh" person. And remember "my friends" from John McCain on the presidential stump? It's the same sort of verbal tic.
No one is perfect, you know? We're thoughtful. We just struggle sometimes putting the thoughts into words.
The more you know:
Friday, January 2, 2009
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2 comments:
why is it that the Kennedy clan always gets the worst rap...She is certainly qualified more than many in congress...At least we know she is honest.
Let's go with Cuomo and leave Caroline to continue to improve public schools in NY. And I say this as a person whose hair was styled exactly as Little Girl Caroline's as a sign of admiration by my mother. I like the woman, you know.
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