Question

expand. : -- SPEECH.

Answer 1

Speech is a great blessing and a valuable gift. But it is also a great curse. While it helps to make our intentions and desires known to our fellows, it can also, if we use it carelessly, make our attitude completely misunderstood. A slip of tounge, the use of an unusual word, or of a vauge meaning, may create an enemy where we hoped to win a friend.

Again, different classes of people use different vocabularies, and the ordinary speech of an educated man may appear to an un-educated listener as showing pride. We may use a word, which bears a different meaning to our listener from what it does to men of our own class. Thus speech is not a gift to use lightly without thought, but one which demands careful handling. Only a fool will express himself alike to all kinds and conditions of men.