May 16

Public Speaking Definitions

There are many different terms in the public speaking industry. Sometimes they are straight forward and easy to understand. Othertimes, a certain amount of head-scratching’s required. To reduce those times, I have compiled my own glossary. (Please note spelling’s are in English not American-English).

Ad-lib – spontaneous remark or comment said in the moment during a speech or presentation
Advanced Communicator Status – In Toastmasters International once the basic 10 speech modules of the Competent Communicator manual have been completed, a speaker can graduate to their first Advanced award. They must complete another 10 speeches which results in Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB); another 10 is Advanced Communicator Silver with a final 10 being Advanced Communicator Gold.

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May 06

Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Eggcorns

The American author and humorist E.B. White (who wrote Charlotte’s Webb and Stuart Little) once said:

“Analyzing humour is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it”.

In my on-going mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques, I try not to analyse why something’s funny. I don’t want to talk about a cathartic release or whatever. Continue reading

May 04

How Do You Know if Your Comedy is Quantifiable?

“How Do You Know if Your Comedy is Quantifiable?”, “How do you know you’re being funny?” and “How do you measure comedy?” These were just some of the questions I was asked recently.

I responded: “yes, comedy is measureable. If somebody laughs, it’s comedy. If no-one laughs it isn’t. But if you get no laughs, that doesn’t automatically make it tragic. It’s just comedy that doesn’t work”.

Comedy is also subjective and a matter of taste. If you watch the films of Charlie Chaplin and you don’t laugh, does that mean to say that he wasn’t funny? Or that it wasn’t comedy? Of course not. Continue reading

Apr 28

Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Spoonerisms

In my on-going mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques I’m going to briefly cover Spoonerisms. A spoonerism is a play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched. It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to oming out with these verbal twists. An example from the Reverend is as follows: “It is kisstomary to cuss the bride” (“customary to kiss”).

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Apr 18

Secret Comedy Writing Technique – Colemanballs

The next entry in my mini series Secret Comedy Writing Techniques is the technique Colemanballs. This is a term coined by the British satirical magazine Private Eye. It describes verbal gaffes made by (usually British) sports commentators. As you will see they’re very similar to malapropisms, as I mention in a previous post.

The term is derived from the surname of a retired BBC broadcaster called David Coleman. The balls part of the term relates to the expression “balls up”, which is a British slang term for a mistake. A few examples of Colemanballs are as follows:

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