Speak with Confident Statements: Tips for Avoiding Upspeak

If you’ve ever watched the 1995 movie Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone, you’ve heard what speech coaches refer to as upspeak. This movie depicting Generation X was full of Valley Girl talk, a type of conversation where your inflection rises as you speak. The pattern of speech makes what you say come across sounding like a…

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Embrace Your Southern Sayings

Idiom: language particular to a people or a district, community or class. Merriam-Webster dictionary Every region has its sayings, and North Carolina has plenty of colorful ones that pepper the speech of native southerners. If you’re a native North Carolinian, you may have found yourself saying some of the phrases below (meanings are in parentheses…

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How Does Your Spoken English Compare to Others?

Everyone speaks with an accent. A person’s accent is an instant look into their background; reflecting both their native language and the region of their childhood. It gives me a warm feeling when I hear people from Minnesota and Wisconsin speak, because it reminds me of the many happy summers I spent in that area of…

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