And to almost completely threadjack my own post, what is it about British drama? When I first moved to England, I thought I’d die of TV boredom. In my desperation I gave in and began watching, only to fall in love. Let’s just admit that the Brits train their actors much better on average. My daughter (one of my performing kids) and I watch every British series we can find. If you have a similar addiction and can recommend favorites, please do!

I think I’m in trouble.

The GA’s all get public speaking/elocution lessons before being put in front of millions of people in General Conference. They get help and practice using teleprompters, speaking clearly and slowly, not using hand gestures, etc. I heard through the rumor mill that there is an LDS-led consulting company based in DC that provides speech coaching to GAs in SLC as well as political figures in DC. (Rumor only, it might need to be filed behind Steve Martin’s baptismal story.)

I wonder though if by now, people who rise to GA levels haven’t already perfected the elocution style simply by parroting GA’s and practicing in local/stake wards. Have you noticed that many local leaders have conference voice down pat?

For Sister Rosemary Wixom in particular, I should point out that it’s much more than the way she speaks: it’s her entire delivery. I still remember a couple Women’s Sessions ago (can that title be applied retroactively?) when she had all the different age groups stand up and sing different verses of “Teach Me to Walk in the Light.” It was touching, but it also seemed very Primary-ish to me, and a little awkward. But I’m not big on singing in front of strangers to begin with, so maybe it was less awkward than I remember it being.

But I think Scott makes a great point—the couple of times I have heard General Authorities speak in Stake Conference, it was completely different. Brother Russell Nelson is usually one of the speakers I don’t enjoy listening to, but when I heard him in Stake Conference a year or so ago, it was an entirely different experience, and I really, really enjoyed it. I thought that would carry over to his General Conference addresses, but so far that hasn’t at all been the case—in October he was as hard to listen to for me as ever. I bet that’s also true for the female leaders, maybe even more so, since they tend to get about half as much time to give their talks than the apostles do, and probably feel they have less leeway on what they can say.

Did you find her “shrill” in the clip? I did not at all, but rather well-spoken and gracious. Either way, I suspect there is also a UK element of class involved. How one speaks is an enormous indicator of where one sits in the social hierarchy

I can put on the queen’s English and can manage cockney, but I do a mean broad Yorkshire, even if it doesn’t get people to curtsey for me. :)

“Hahaha, I love your spelled-out impression of Brother Nelson—it’s spot-on!”

mirrorrorrim, forgot to tell you, the funny thing is that I just googled “Russell Nelson,” clicked on “videos,” picked a random result, moved the cursor to the middle of a talk, and typed in what he said. Doesn’t really matter where you go in his talks, the cadence is there. :)

J Town, you’re killing me. I need to meet that guy.