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I'm not sure what you think of when you say "eloquent". I watched the Standford speech and other talks of him and the thing that always struck me was how eloque
by bad_user 14y ago
I'm not sure what you think of when you say "eloquent". I watched the Standford speech and other talks of him and the thing that always struck me was how eloquent and persuasive he was.
Also, great orators do use a simple vocabulary. Bill Clinton is not necessarily the right example, because he's a politician and bullshiting people with fancy words and long speeches are part of the job description.
- kyro 14y agoEloquence in terms of mastery over the English language. Steve definitely was persuasive, but not because of expansive vocabulary, carefully crafted sentences or even logical arguments. His passion conveyed much more meaningful messages, and actually, it's likely that his simple and direct manner of speech helped those messages come through with clarity.
- DougBTX 14y agoHow can you tell that he didn't carefully craft simple and direct speech to convey his passion with clarity? It's tricky to pin down cause and effect, but since so many people understood his passion through his use of English, I'd be wary of saying he didn't have it mastered.
- jimbokun 14y agoClinton's persuasive genius was on display in the last Democratic National Convention where he made clear what Obama had achieved, and the tactics the Republicans were using to try to stop him, in very clear, simple language everyone could understand. I think Clinton and Jobs are more alike than different, in that respect.
- bad_user 14y agoI never listened to that speech, but as I was saying, great orators wrap powerful messages in a simple and clear language. And anybody that tried delivering speeches to an audience this way knows how difficult it can be.
- godDLL 14y agoI think he meant `not fancy`. Fancy speech is not the same as effective speech; rather, I'd say effective speaking is very much in the realm of eloquence.