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Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking

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    I didn't know when I agreed to do this,
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    whether I was expected to talk, or to sing.
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    But when I was told that the topic was language,
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    I felt that I had to speak about something for a moment.
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    I have a problem.
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    It's not the worst thing in the world,
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    I'm fine,
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    I'm not on fire,
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    I know that other people in the world
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    have far worst things to deal with,
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    but for me, language and music are
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    inextricably linked through this one thing.
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    And the thing is that I have a stutter.
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    It might seem curious given that I spend
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    a lot of my life on the stage.
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    One would assume that i'm comfortable
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    in the public sphere and comfortable here,
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    speaking to you guys.
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    But the truth is that I've spent
    my life up on to this point
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    and including this point, living in mortal dread
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    of public speaking.
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    Public 'singing', whole different thing. (Laughter)
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    But we'll get to that in a moment.
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    I've never really talked about it before so explicitly.
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    I think that that's because I've always lived in hope
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    that when I was a grown-up,
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    I wouldn't have one.
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    I sort of lived with this idea that when i'm grown,
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    I'll have learn to speak French,
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    and when i'm grown, i'll learn
    how to manage my money,
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    and when i'm grown, I won't have a stutter,
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    and i'll be able to public speak
    and maybe be the Prime Minister
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    and anything's possible and, you know.
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    (Laughter)
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    So I can talk about it now
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    because I've reached this point, where,
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    I mean, i'm 28.
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    I'm pretty sure that i'm grown now.
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    (Laughter)
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    And i'm an adult woman
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    who spends her life as a performer,
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    with a speech impediment.
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    So, I might as well come clean about it.
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    There are some interesting
    angles to having a stutter.
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    For me, the worst thing that can happen
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    is meeting another stutterer.
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    (Laughter)
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    This happened to me in Hamburg, when
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    this guy, we met and he said,
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    "Hello, m..m..m..my name is Joe",
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    and I said, "Oh, hello, m..m..m..my name is Mey".
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    Imagine my horror when I realized
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    he thought that I was making fun of him.
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    (Laughter)
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    People think i'm drunk all the time.
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    (Laughter)
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    People think that I've forgotten their name
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    when I hesitate before saying it.
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    And it is a very weird thing, because
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    proper nouns are the worst.
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    If i'm gonna use the word
    "Wednesday" in a sentence,
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    and i'm coming up to the word,
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    and I can feel that i'm gonna stutter or something,
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    I can change the word to "tomorrow"
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    or "the day after Tuesday,"
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    or something else, you know.
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    It's clunky, but you can get away with it,
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    because over time, I've developed this
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    loophole method of using speech
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    where right at the last minute you
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    change the thing and you trick your brain.
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    But with peoples' names, you can't change them.
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    (Laughter)
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    When I was singing a lot of jazz,
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    I worked a lot with a pianist whose name was Steve.
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    As you can probably gather,
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    'S's and 'T's together, or independently,
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    are my Kryptonite.
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    (Laughter)
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    But I would have to introduce the band
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    over this rolling vamp, you know,
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    and when I got around to Steve,
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    I'd often find myself stuck on the 'St'.
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    And it was a bit awkward and uncomfortable
    and it totally kills the vibe, you know.
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    So after a few instances of this,
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    Steve happily became "Seve"
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    and we got through it that way.
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    I've had a lot of therapy,
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    and a common form of treatment is to use
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    this technique that's called "Smooth Speech,"
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    which is where you almost
    sing everything that you say.
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    You kind of join everything together in this
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    very sing-song, kindergarten teacher way,
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    and it makes you sound very serene,
    like you've had lots of valium,
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    and everything is calm.
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    That's not actually me, you know.
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    And I do use that. I do.
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    I use it when I have to be on panel shows,
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    or when I have to do radio interviews,
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    when the economy of airtime is paramount.
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    (Laughter)
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    I get through it that way, you know, for my job.
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    But as an artist who feels that their work
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    is based solely on a platform of honesty
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    and being real,
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    that feels often like cheating.
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    Which is why before I sing, I wanted to tell you
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    what singing means to me.
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    It's more than making nice sounds,
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    and it's more than making nice songs.
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    It's more than feeling known, or understood.
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    It's more than making you feel the things that I feel.
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    It's not about mythology,
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    or mythologizing myself to you.
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    Somehow, through some miraculous
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    synaptic function of the human brain,
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    it's impossible to stutter when you sing.
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    And when I was younger,
    that was a method of treatment
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    that worked very well for me:
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    singing.
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    So I did it a lot.
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    And that's why I'm here today.
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    (Applause)
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    Thank you.
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    Singing for me is sweet relief.
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    It is the only time when I feel fluent.
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    It is the only time when what comes out of my mouth
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    is comprehensively exactly what I intended.
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    (Laughter)
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    So I know that this is a TED talk,
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    but now i'm going to TED sing.
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    This is a song that I wrote last year.
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    Thank you very much. Thank you.
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    (Applause)
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    (Piano)
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    ♪ I would be a beauty ♪
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    ♪ but my nose ♪
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    ♪ is slightly too big ♪
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    ♪ for my face ♪
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    ♪ And I would be a dreamer ♪
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    ♪ but my dream ♪
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    ♪ is slightly too big ♪
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    ♪ for this space ♪
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    ♪ And I would be an angel ♪
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    ♪ but my halo ♪
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    ♪ impales in the glow ♪
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    ♪ of your grace ♪
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    ♪ And I would be a joker ♪
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    ♪ but that could look silly when you play ♪
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    ♪ your ace ♪
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    ♪ And I'd like to know ♪
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    ♪ Are there stars in hell? ♪
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    ♪ And I'd like to know ♪
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    ♪ know if you can tell ♪
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    ♪ that you make me lose everything I know ♪
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    ♪ That I cannot choose to or not let go ♪
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    ♪ And I'd stay forever ♪
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    ♪ but my home ♪
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    ♪ is slightly too far ♪
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    ♪ from this place ♪
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    ♪ And I swear I tried to ♪
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    ♪ slow it down ♪
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    ♪ when I am walking at your pace ♪
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    ♪ But all I could think ♪
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    ♪ Idling through the cities, ♪
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    ♪ Do I look pretty in the rain? ♪
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    ♪ And I don't know how someone ♪
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    ♪ quite so lovely ♪
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    ♪ makes me feel ugly ♪
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    ♪ So much shame ♪
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    ♪ And I'd like to know ♪
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    ♪ Are there stars in hell? ♪
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    ♪ And I'd like to know, ♪
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    ♪ know if you can tell ♪
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    ♪ that you make me lose everything I know ♪
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    ♪ that I cannot choose to or not let go ♪
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    Thank you very much. (Applause)
Title:
Why I live in mortal dread of public speaking
Speaker:
Megan Washington
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
13:02

English subtitles

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