Oct 20 meeting: "Fashionista"

Toastmaster Joyce King presided over a meeting that was the height of fashion, especially in the Table Topics. Our first-time guest Doss gave us a, shall we say, revealing insight into John's weekend wardrobe shortcomings, with yet another revelation from Pat Quick. Since John himself was the Topics Master, his inspiring questions may not have brought the expected results. (He blushes beautifully.)

Theresa Eller won the best speech prize for helping us to "Go Geek" and minister to our computers' better health. Pat realized how hard it is to be Timer. As Grammarian, Will Higgins saddled us with "kiosk" again as the word of the day, but then looked up too many potential sins in his book and discovered them to be legal usage. Jodie Sanders counted many more "so"s than "ah"s.  The Vote Counter gave out the ribbons, a practice seen at another club that we tried out tonight. Finally, Tammy Bailey discovered that the smell of fried chicken in the room was a culinary, not a neurological, phenomenon, and she had no cause for worry.

Jodie Sanders

New schedule is available

The schedule of meeting roles through November 17 has been posted on the club's website. Click on "Members Area," log in, and click on the "Schedule" tab. To get a pdf suitable for printing, click on "Printable Version."

How to say it: Shined or shone?

The other day while reading an outstanding work of great literature (e.g. “Heathcliff’s Troubles”), I came across a frame which had the big orange cat shining a flashlight into a dark room. Which caused me to wonder: Does one state that “Heathcliff shined the light into the darkness, or Heathcliff shone the light into the darkness?”

My first reaction was to contact Heathcliff himself to ask his opinion on how he would like to be portrayed. However, his receptionist responded that he was out of the office, raiding garbage cans for fish. I would have to resort to “Plan B”. Ah! Where would we be without the Internet?

There appears to be quite a bit of debate as to what the proper employment of the past tense of “shine” is. According to one blog, there appears to be a “friendly competition” between American English and its British English counterpart. Should one reside on the North American continent, the correct usage is that Heathcliff shined the flashlight into the darkened room. However, should one transport the furry feline to the shores of Great Britain and place him in a darkened room with a “torch” (remember where we are), upon turning it on Heathcliff would have shone the light around the room.

However, the best example (and the one I will personally rely upon in the future) comes from the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. “Shined” is employed when a direct object is involved (i.e. shined the flashlight around the room). “Shone” is utilized when there is no direct object present, as in “Yesterday the sun shone brightly”. Given that this audience will spend most of their time on the North American continent, this would appear to be the best course of action.

Gary Chiu

Oct 13 meeting: "Great Literature"

Hunter Allen and Mike Witt were inducted as members tonight.

It may not have been the best of times, but hopefully it wasn't the worst of times either, as Jodie Sanders made her debut appearance as Toastmaster. A shortage of warm bodies meant that we had some doubling of roles, but Saraí Garcia and Gary Chiu were outstanding as Timer/Listener and Grammarian/AH Counter, respectively. A big, BIG thank you to both of them for doing two jobs, one at very short notice.

We had three excellent, and quite different, speeches. Mike Witt's ice breaker "How's Your Dash" struck a serious and emotional note. Will Higgins made a model awards presentation specialty speech. Tom Brents' "Caught with the Net" was humorous with an underlying poignancy. Then Mack Mercer, Pat Quick and Tammy Bailey put on an evaluation clinic. (We need to look into getting some of these evaluations on video!)

Theresa Eller put Gary, Saraí, Hunter and our visitor Tyra on the spot with some downright Shakespearean table topics, but they rose to the occasion with tales of star-crossed love, betrayal, a bad kindergarten experience, and equivocation!

Jodie Sanders

Area 61 contest results

Will Higgins took first place in Speech Evaluation and Tammy Bailey was first in Humorous Speech at the Area 61 contest on Friday, Oct 9. There may have been a shortage of competitors, but there was a full house of dignitaries and lots of good food.

And those of you not there missed Brenda Daniels leading the cheers! More pictures to come.

How to say it: Annoying words!

What are annoying words? When you hear them, you just want to grit your teeth! Some of these are what we call "crutch" or "filler" words; something to fill up space and time until we can get the next sentence ready. But a phrase like "it is what it is" doesn't really fall into that category. There's another group of words and phrases that start out as fresh and new, then are overused to the point of becoming tired clichés. How about "reinvent," "iconic" and "cutting edge?"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/08/most.annoying.words/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Oct 6 meeting: "World War II"

The above was the theme of the meeting, not a description of it. Pinch-hitting toastmaster Tony Morris moderated a peaceful meeting, in spite of all the talk of war. It was nice to see a few faces that have been missing of late.

New member Hunter Allen's icebreaker "Businessman" was the highlight of the evening and won for best speech. First-time speech evaluator Rodney King won the red ribbon for his thoughtful critique of one of our younger members. Gary Chiu, as usual, had some creative table topics that got good responses; all were timed at over one minute. Jodie Sanders took that prize for her Eva Braun (after-the-first-date-with-Adolf-you-know-who) impersonation.

A pleasant surprise ended the meeting. A big thank you to Theresa Eller, who brought us bread pudding for a treat! It was yummy!

Jodie Sanders

Lose your schedule?

Just a reminder that the latest revision of the schedule of meeting roles is posted on the club's website. Click on "Members Area," log in, and click on the "Schedule" tab. To get a pdf suitable for printing, click on "Printable Version."