and own their attention. What follows is most emphatically not advice. Rather, it is a description of what I do in addition to those very sound things advised by the authors of AoM. 1) Whenever I am at my desk, I keep a web page open to the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). 2) I am as interested in connotation as denotation. 3) I consider each word I am exposed to in its lexical, stipulative, precising, operative, vernacular, and phonic qualities. 4) I use new words, not necessarily with an audience; but with myself. If we are to use a broad vocabulary with facility rather than sound like someone who is trying to sound smart, the words must spring readily from both our tongues and our finger tips. 5) I sing. Language is not just an intellectual exercise. It is something a dynamic and intelligent animal does. Singing will contribute to your control of voice, tone, and inflection. The only person who sounds bad singing is a person who is afraid to sing. Bark and howl with your dog. Caw with a crow. Honk with a goose. Sing a child's song with a child. They get it. 6) I Listen. There is a music to language, a rhythm, a melody, and it's different for each person, each dialect. I eves drop, on the bus, on the street, in a restaurant, and I try not to judge, but to absorb the song. Each word has a sound. Some are as melodious as