2/4/20

Friday's Frets: Uhh-ers & Umm-ers


fret
  [fret] (noun): an irritated state of mind; annoyance; vexation.


Friday's Frets are my little rants about something that annoys me, most often without reason. We all have them, those little peeves that you may or may not notice.

Silence is your friend!

I will be the first to admit that public speaking is not on my list of skills. As a matter of fact, personal speaking isn't a skill I excel at either. I say this as proof I have no right to critique anyone's speech but nonetheless I shall.

I am regularly punished with business meetings. There is rarely anything fun about them but probably the worst for me is if the leader of the meeting is an umm-er. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, an umm-er is someone that fears a silent break in speech so they fill it with ummmm or uhhhhh. Just let there be silence until you gather your thought. JUST LET THERE BE SILENCE!! It is most frustrating when the speaker isn't confident in the subject matter. In this case the um's and uh's flow freely often times to the point that the purpose of the speech is lost. Sometimes there are situations where the presenter is very familiar with the subject yet the uh's lead the audience to believe the opposite. It's my opinion that often these vocabulary destroyers don't even realize they fear silence.

Along the same subject, the more recent generations over use "like".  Every sentence you utter shouldn't contain this word and you definitely shouldn't use it more than once in the same sentence.

Another, don't end a sentence with "you know". If I knew then why are you telling me? 

Lastly, if the sentence is a question commit to the question. Don't start the sentence as a declaration and at the very last minute revert to a question. Example: 
NO: "Roses are always pink, correct?"
YES: "Are roses always pink?"

Welp that's my two cents.

Fretfully, Jessie


Podcast Addiction: S-Town

Podcast Addictions are my opinions on some of the podcasts to which I listen or have listened. I am in no way incentivized for these posts so you can be sure they are my true opinions.


Podcast Title: S-Town
Genre: Investigative Journalism
Host: Brian Reed
Producer:
Rating: This podcast is definitely meant for a mature audience. The subject matter is murder and there is foul language.
Star Rating: 5 stars

S-Town is probably one of the best serial podcasts I have experienced. It is a story of murder accusations made by an extremely colorful character, John B. McLemore. John shares his opinions of various scandals he feels are going on in his hometown (Woodstock, AL) with the host as they work together to investigate the possibilities.

Although the story of murder in a small town is interesting to me, I feel like this podcast gets it appeal from John McLemore. His personality is so very intriguing. I am especially drawn to his views because I have a son that battles similar eccentricities and life-threatening depression. It seems some with a very high IQ struggle to function in everyday life. As I listened to his interpretations of event and how he spends his free time, most of his characteristics I can relate back to my precious offspring. I'm fortunate my son's story doesn't end as Mr. McLemore's did but that is only due to a miracle.

Beware this podcast is one that is hard to pause. If you are one of those that can't put down a book once you start then you better be ready to invest some time before you start this podcast. There's a reason why it is a record breaking podcast!


What am I listening to now?

  • My Favorite Murder
  • Crawlspace
Expect some opinions on these very soon. 

Toodles,
Jessie