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Subject:Re: Pet peeve words From:"Roberta J. Kirby-Werner" <rjkirby -at- MAILBOX -dot- SYR -dot- EDU> Date:Mon, 15 Sep 1997 18:16:59 -0400
I saw a Connie Chung's story on this phenomenon a couple years ago. She
referred to it as "uptalk," the practice of intoning statements like
questions.
P.S. I _did_ check to see if "intone" could be used as a verb before
sending this message. Wouldn't want to peeve anyone. ;-)
Bobbi
Roberta (Bobbi) J. Kirby-Werner rjkirby -at- mailbox -dot- syr -dot- edu
Senior Professional Writing Instructor
Syracuse University Writing Program
239 H.B. Crouse
Syracuse, NY 13244-1160
<Editor, _Forum_, National Newsletter for Non-Tenure Track Faculty in
English and Composition>
<Freelance Technical Writer/Editor & Corporate Trainer>
On Mon, 15 Sep 1997, Debbie Molinaro wrote:
> Here's another butt-squincher, not a pet peeve word, but a manner of
> speaking that's been getting to me lately. It mostly happens at planning
> meetings and on phone calls to customer service representatives. It's this
> style of asking instead of telling. It's supposed to be a Gen-X
> characteristic, but I've heard people all the way up to Boomers using it.
>
> Here's an example of how it goes:
> "I've finished interviewing the technicians? And I've keyed in all the
> information into the PC? I should have layout done by next week? And then
> I'll get started on the graphics?"
>
> Like, who asked?
>
> Debbie
>
>
> Debbie Molinaro
> debbiem -at- ucs -dot- net
>
> The Paper Trail
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