Public speakers should at least make an effort to slow down

WENDY Abbott (Yorkshire Post, June 19) made no attempt to respond to the only point I had made in a letter earlier in the month (Yorkshire Post, June 7); nor did Sara Parr (Yorkshire Post, June 12).

I am old enough to remember BBC newsreaders from 70 or so years ago. Names like Alvar Liddell and Frank Phillips readily came to mind. Their diction was admirable. Both were held up as exemplars by my choirmaster.

Nowadays, far too many people speak far too quickly. Peter Levy is no exception, but as one whose job is to communicate with the public, he has the responsibility to speak clearly.

May I suggest that your 
two correspondents (and Mr Levy) watch BBC Sunday Half Hour.

Many members of the congregation are good singers.

As the camera moves 
around, settling here and 
there on a face, it is reasonably easy to lip read (the words of 
the lyrics at the bottom of the screen, synchronised with the music obviously help).

I can’t be the only deaf 
 person who found the programme an important aid in learning to lip read which is a valuable supplement to frail hearing.

Is it too much to ask that 
those whose job is to speak in public should at least make the effort?

From: Margaret Whitaker, Harswell, East Yorkshire.

I CAME to Yorkshire from 
the Other County in the 
1960s, and soon discovered 
your unusual use of the word “while”.

I was training as a nurse in 
York, and being built for 
comfort and not for speed 
soon realised that my mates found me a slow worker. As I came on duty the merry cry 
went up: “Oh heck, it’s 
Whitaker, we’ll be here while Christmas!”

I got used to that, but one day 
I overheard some university 
wives discussing this usage, quoting with horror the numerous unmanned level-crossings in the area, with 
their accompanying signs advising: “Do not cross while lights flash.”

I began to wonder about 
the word myself, and even imagined it might be some 
ruse of the Vikings to get 
the hapless Saxons exterminated.

Can anyone enlighten me?

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

FURTHER to an earlier letter, I’m not keen on the phrase “see you later” as used by those in the retail trade. I mean, there is no way that those young girls behind the counter are literally going to see a middle-aged man like me later, is there?

From: William Doyle, Menston.

I’M always happy to hear the phrase “see you later” after placing a bet in the local bookies, it obviously suggests I’m onto a winner.