I agree that answering machines can prove to be a great strain upon my powers of spoken English. That's when I most find myself leaving great pauses between sentences, and even mid-sentence, in a desparate attempt to make good grammatical sense. Alot of the time, these delays are due to a desire to be concise (searching for the mot juste?), which, paradoxically, actually makes the message last longer!

Of course, another aspect of my initial post, which was implicit there but hasn't been remarked upon, is that of the social status often accorded to people who 'speak in sentences'. This is similar to the respect (or yawns?) given those who use 'long words', and those (at least in the UK) who use RP. Since I am guilty of all three crimes, I usually find people are polite to me on the phone, refrain from asking me questions once they've got to know me, and often comment on my accent. The comments are usually complimentary, but I rarely comment on others' accents, and wonder if such comment might be considered impolite.

Any thoughts?

cheer

the sunshine warrior