Importance of a well-modulated voice . . . Women’s voices too highly pitched . . . Stuttering . . . Lisping . . . Drawling . . . Pointers on public speaking.
THE eyes may be the windows of the soul, but it is the voice which is the window—or should we say the show-window—of the intellect. Certain it is that our breeding, education, intelligence, and character are expressed with disconcerting truth, not only by the things we say but by the way we say them! It is as incredible as it is distressing to realize that while millions of dollars are spent yearly on clothes and cosmetics, very little time, effort, or money is devoted to the improvement of this one most revealing particular of the personality. Instinctively, but with cruel accuracy, we judge a new acquaintance by the quality of his voice, his pronunciation, his diction. His social background, his character, and his disposition are immediately revealed in two or three moments’ conversation. Moreover, a voice that is carelessly used may give a very bad, yet wholly erroneous impression just when we wish to appear at our very best.
For example, the woman with the thin, whiney voice may be striving to suggest sweetness and light, but we instantly class her as a petulant, irritable creature who probably spends her life nagging her friends and family. Many a man uses his voice in such a timid, hesitant manner that his associates invariably class him with the dull and unimportant; yet he may have ideas of immense power and value. The ideas of some persons, however important, rarely achieve realization simply because few of us will lend an ear when a colorless,
monotonous voice begins speaking. Few persons nowadays have the time or patience to "make allowances." We need to be impressed quickly.
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