Usually, those who are verbose exceed verbally, lengthening in a redundant way. While it's a terrible idea to throw in some old pleonasm as you speak, especially if you're trying to impress a potential employer by using abstruse words, you have the ability to effectively defend yourself when others are being picky and pedantic. If you want to silence all of your interlocutors, you can learn the skills needed to make long, grandiloquent, and affected speeches. Try to hunt down the Polonium in you by learning to become a long-winded speaker.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Being Endless
Step 1. Start talking without having a clear idea of where you will go
Warren G. Harding, a grandiloquent speaker and former president of the United States, according to a political critic, had a rhetorical style consisting mainly of "an army of bombastic phrases moving around a scenario in search of an idea." Try setting your style this way.
Many speakers begin to fade towards the end of a concept, pausing to catch their breath and collect their thoughts. Instead, learn to finish a passage and enter it into a new one, saying "In other words" or "Plus" without delay, so that you can keep the conversation going
Step 2. Use countless adjectives, varied and heterogeneous
A single rather precise adjective could never satisfy a verbose writer or speaker as much as five uncertain, mediocre, mundane, stunted, shaky adjectives, all piled together. Prolissity means redundancy. Connect every single aspect of your speech to the limit and you will be well on your way.
Don't neglect adverbs either. If a swan swims, it should always "swim swiftly and smoothly". Think of each sentence as a Christmas tree to decorate
Step 3. Explain too much
The world's most long-winded and talkative speakers seem not to know when to stop. Never give up on proving something, even if your interlocutors took your word off twenty minutes earlier.
- Reiterate every claim and position to achieve maximum rhetorical effect. Do not underestimate the expression "in other words" when you want to reformulate your position in another way, but leaving the concept unchanged.
- Think back to everything you have stated, endorsing each claim and analyzing what you have stated. When you come to the end of a hiring, train yourself to say "On the other hand …" to pave the way for further discussion.
Step 4. Accept digressions and digressions
A long-winded person's mind should be like an aquarium. Let every thought wander on its own and pursue it. Don't worry so much about where an argument will lead you, but explore every possible nook and cranny of a conversation before letting it go.
Step 5. Read writers characterized by their prolixity
While Shakespeare's Polonius might be the patron saint of verbose speakers, if you intend to add literary elements and fewer problems to your speeches, learn from the masters of prolixity, because they can actually help you come up with high-sounding speech. Read the labyrinthine expressions of the following authors and scrutinize the characters who in their bombast never know when to stop talking:
- Herman Melville
- Susan Sontag
- Salvatore Scibona
- William Faulkner
- Virginia Woolf
- Samuel Beckett
Part 2 of 3: Enriching the Lexicon
Step 1. Start collecting new words to use
Look for obscure words, join the One Word a Day mailing list, and don't hesitate to search for a definition when dealing with an unknown term.
After a while you will find that you are irremediably fascinated by words. If you search for terms, you will find words that you will easily fall in love with. Take, for example, "Most Magnificent". This word, a hendecasyllable coined by Dante in De vulgari eloquentia, may be longer than its definition
Step 2. Study the roots of words
By learning the verbal roots, you will be able to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words more easily, being able to greatly expand your vocabulary. You will also be able to create neologisms based on existing definitions.
- If you know various suffixes and prefixes, you can make your speeches colossal. "Honorificabilitudinitatibus", an expression wisely used by Shakespeare in "Love's pains lost", started from the simple word "honor".
- Use unconventional conjugations and parasynthetic formations (i.e. use rare tenses and unusual variations with the addition of prefixes and suffixes). Sometimes a common verb can be bombastic if it is conjugated in an unusual tense. The recent past "I have exact" can give a particularly learned air with respect to the use of the "exact" present.
Step 3. Use long words
Never use a monosyllable when you can use trisyllable words. So, avoid monosyllabic repetitions whenever possible.
- If you use a fairly archaic vocabulary, you can add words and use adjectives that reinforce their meaning. For example, you might describe a long-winded speaker as "tautologically talkative", a slightly juicier expression than "repetitive" and "redundant", even though they mean much the same.
- Let's take the word 'hyper-polysyllabic' as an example. It essentially means the same thing if you exclude 'hyper', but why waste a word of as many as 17 letters?
Step 4. Use the words correctly
The goal of being verbose is to appear intelligent, not ridiculous. If you want to look like an insightful person, be careful of using an abstruse word incorrectly, as it can be harmful. Therefore, be sure to check the use of new words in various sources before applying them. All the shrewd gab in this world won't help you if you get caught saying "I should have the gift of obliquity."
Part 3 of 3: Having a Bombshell Speech
Step 1. Use strong metaphors
Prolixity also involves a certain degree of bombast. If you want to be considered a bombastic speaker or writer, dive into the deep waters of overabundant (and mixed) metaphors. For you, each grain of sand must not be just a mountain, but a mountain upon which hordes of excited demons spawn every fortnight.
Step 2. Leave the torrent of words open
If you want to linger for a long time, be sure to baste your speeches precisely, without pausing. Therefore, do not allow anyone to say half a word.
- Learn to anticipate the conclusion of one sentence to attach the next before you catch your breath.
- Learn to hook the reader by inserting a transitional sentence at the end of a long paragraph, which forces him to read further, even if he is deadly bored. Better yet, avoid writing in paragraphs and don't give up even if the reader may get tired.
Step 3. Sprinkle your speeches with phrases that belong to different languages
Prolix people know that "Quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur" (whatever it says in Latin, it sounds sublime). Memorize a few Latin quotes and insert them whenever you can. Also mix a little French or English, emphasizing the pronunciation, and you'll be superb in four languages.
Instead of saying "He has a habit of using incomprehensible words", try "His modus operandi seems to be obscurum per obscurius", just to give an ancient flavor to your speech
Step 4. Interrupt the other interlocutors
If you are in any doubt that it's your turn to speak, don't worry. Take control of the conversation and don't let go of the word stick until you've subdued everyone else. It stifles dissent, as Ross Perot usually does, constantly stressing every time you are interrupted: "May I close? Can I have the floor, please?"
Learn to ignore body language and other cues that indicate a desire to speak on the part of others. Keep your gaze engrossed at a medium distance as you recount your childhood seaside voyages. Ignore if anyone snores at the table (for real or pretending)
Advice
- Engage in word games, such as scrabble and crossword puzzles, so you can improve your vocabulary in a quick and fun way.
- Be creative. Even ordinary speeches can become grandiloquent if delivered correctly.
- Check the pronunciation. It is better to use a simple word correctly than not to abuse more complex ones.
- Know your audience. If you are dealing with a group of Italian teachers, it is probably best not to be presumptuous. If you are faced with a group of naive people, you can easily twist them with your speeches.
