people say i’m well spoken. that i have an expansive vocabulary. that i “sound smart.” it’s something i’ve heard for most of my life. but there isn’t some secret behind it. i wasn’t trained to speak this way. i didn’t take special classes in rhetoric. i wasn’t trying to cultivate an impressive tone. i just read. i read constantly as a child. novels. essays. magazines. the backs of cereal boxes. instruction manuals. blog posts. anything i could get my hands on. i read books that were probably ...

people say i’m well spoken. that i have an expansive vocabulary. that i “sound smart.” it’s something i’ve heard for most of my life. but there isn’t some secret behind it. i wasn’t trained to speak this way. i didn’t take special classes in rhetoric. i wasn’t trying to cultivate an impressive tone. i just read. i read constantly as a child. novels. essays. magazines. the backs of cereal boxes. instruction manuals. blog posts. anything i could get my hands on. i read books that were probably ...