B3E
remembering where I parked my car...
I am lucky to be away for 5 days with nothing more than my itinerary. Friends are away for 5 days and it is just me and their small dog. And the quiet, the sea and full days for me to form in any way I would like.
These escapes are aligned with big projects allowing me to pour myself into research and creativity. Let’s be honest, I am not exactly on a gulag back on the mainland but you know how our busy lives push and pull us into multiple directions.
The drive is about 3.5 hours door to ferry. I decided to title this post after my parking section — just in case I lose the little ticket. Don’t judge…
I queued up a podcast for the journey, Matter of Opinion. A group of diverse voices typically politically driven but if you are not a binary thinker there is a lot to be gained by listening. I mention what I was listening to because there has been something that quietly annoys me about podcast listening (primarily with women but not exclusively) but I figured it was part of my curmudgeon season and tried to let it go.
But here it was. Spoken out loud by someone else during a section called hot | cold where panelists can weigh in on something good and something bad.
The annoying podcast giggle. A member of the panel mentioned it as a huge source of annoyance and even while citing specific examples, a cohost did it unintentionally. I warn you though, once you hear it — you will notice it for all time.
They list reasons for the giggle but I sincerely believe it is a tic of some sort. Not intentional in any way but easily adapted into a habit.
I listen to lots of podcasts, and there is something that happens on just about every podcast I hear. I bet it has happened today, and I just haven’t pinpointed it. But it happens especially in these roundtable conversational-type podcasts. And that is what I think of as the podcast giggle.
And that is that a person is speaking and suddenly, in the course of speaking, adds this undercurrent of laughter, not as an aside, (CHUCKLING) but in the course of speaking the words. Right? Like I just did. Now, I might be talking, and suddenly, right in the middle of the sentence, I’m giggling while I’m talking.
I find this utterly objectionable on both aesthetic grounds because it is totally distracting, but more so on substantive grounds, because I don’t know what the podcaster is trying to convey with the laughter. It rarely signals something funny or worthy of normal laughter.
So I’ve tried to parse the podcast giggle across a number of podcasts, and sometimes it seems to be embarrassment at something that you’re acknowledging about yourself. Sometimes it’s sort of shock or disapproval at something that is happening, right?
Sometimes it’s more personal. It’s like you’re trying to distance yourself from something that you’re proposing because it goes against your self-image or the image you think listeners have of you. So you’re just kind of angry at yourself while you’re laughing and saying this thing.
I think it is the evolution of a habit I eventually painstakingly broke for myself. If I was speaking about something technical I would make a statement but it would lilt at the end, sort of like a question. A way to not seem authoritative even if I am a subject knowledge expert. It is an actual thing called, uptalk.
Women are usually criticized more harshly for this habit but this and vocal fry can change the meaning or perception of authority on a topic. To be honest with the exception of teaching people to speak to the back of the room — not by shouting but projecting words on a stream of air — helping speakers to determine their intention is the biggest source of work we do in workshops. There is a big difference between assessing if an idea is being understood or seeking approval for what you are saying. Think about uptalk as being the differentiator.
Storytelling is powerful not just as you stand at a podium but how about job interviews, networking or circulating in social situations?
Professionally, many of us touch, consume, or generate data. That stuff is useless if it sits in spreadsheets. Learn how to share insights and make an impact…
Stay tuned.
