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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 05 Oct 2005
Time: 17:24:47 -0500
Remote Name: 24.1.63.182
Hi Sophie, Thanks for your kind words. "Superfluency" - a negative value on the Y axis - could be defined as the ability to talk for HOURS at a time without the slightest hesitation in your speech pattern. Hardly any normal person does this, not even TV anchor persons. A normal person will converse with a sprinkling of um's and er's or word repetitions. A superfluent person - who is totally obsessed with absolutely PERFECT speech ALL THE TIME, would sound more like a rehearsed performance than normal speaking. Really weird. "Superfearlessness" - a negative value on the X axis - is characterized by aggressive talking to people who are simply not interested in what that person is saying. Not only does this person have ZERO fear of speaking, but he actually seeks out opportunities to talk to whoever he can capture and get to listen to him. As Junior (Tereva) says above, another name for this person is a "royal pain in the %#@&!" No doubt we both have met people like that! Ha, ha! I like your concept of the super dense iceberg, but I believe, rather, that it would be super LIGHT, that it would rise out of water like a helium balloon and probably disappear into the sky. Remember the denser the iceberg, the more emotional baggage the person has under the surface - and this guy has ZERO emotional baggage. (He may be crazy, of course, but he's REALLY happy! Ha, ha!) The SIZE of the iceberg would become negative too, sort of like antimatter, a strange concept for anyone. Maybe the helium balloon which explodes in the air! How about that? Ha, ha, ha! Glad you enjoyed the paper. And I hope it gives increasing validity to the category of covert stuttering. That's what sparked my interest in the iceberg analogy in the first place. Hope to see you in Long Beach next summer. Please plan to come! Russ