#Elocution Classes for Kids

[activekidsonline]

Mastering Elocution: A Comprehensive Guide to Speaking for Kids

Introduction

In a world driven by communication, one of the most powerful skills a child can develop early in life is the ability to speak with clarity and confidence. Elocution, the art of articulate and expressive speech, equips children with the tools to express themselves effectively in all areas of life—academically, socially, and emotionally.

Whether it’s speaking up in class, telling a story, or participating in a school competition, strong communication can transform how a child is perceived and how they perceive themselves. That’s why elocution training, particularly at a young age, is not just beneficial—it’s essential.

Understanding Elocution for Children

What is Elocution?

Elocution involves learning to speak clearly and expressively. For children, it’s about developing the ability to pronounce words correctly, use appropriate voice tone, and engage listeners confidently.

Why It Matters

Children who communicate well tend to perform better in school, make friends more easily, and exhibit higher self-esteem. Elocution fosters not just speech improvement, but also cognitive development and emotional intelligence.

Age-Appropriate Techniques

Different age groups require tailored approaches. Younger children thrive with playful tongue twisters, while older kids benefit from structured storytelling and debate exercises.

Core Components of Effective Elocution

Articulation

Teaching kids to pronounce words clearly helps prevent misunderstandings and builds speaking fluency.

Pronunciation

Correct pronunciation ensures children can convey their messages accurately and professionally.

Pacing and Pausing

Children learn to pace their speech and use pauses effectively—skills that enhance delivery and listener comprehension.

Tone and Pitch

Using expressive tones makes speaking more engaging and enjoyable for both the speaker and the audience.

Body Language

From eye contact to hand gestures, non-verbal cues are integrated to support verbal communication.

Benefits of Elocution Classes for Kids

Boosted Confidence: Public speaking becomes less daunting, and kids learn to trust their voice.

Improved Academic Performance: Clear articulation enhances participation in class and reading skills.

Stronger Social Skills: Effective communicators often make friends more easily and handle social situations with ease.

Creative Thinking: Elocution supports creativity through storytelling and impromptu speaking.

Leadership Foundation: Children who speak well are more likely to take on leadership roles in school and beyond.

Practical Exercises to Improve Elocution

Tongue Twisters: Fun and effective for improving articulation.

Reading Aloud: Enhances vocal strength and expressive speaking.

Mirror Practice: Allows self-correction by observing facial expressions and mouth movements.

Storytelling Sessions: Develop narrative skills and logical thinking while practicing expressive speech.

Overcoming Common Challenges

Shyness

Gentle encouragement and interactive group activities help kids come out of their shells.

Speech Issues

Trained instructors identify and address concerns like lisping or stammering early on.

Inconsistency

Daily short practices and fun assignments help kids stay engaged without feeling pressured.

Active Kids’s Elocution Program

At Active Kids, we specialize in interactive elocution courses designed just for kids. Our Speak & Shine program is crafted to suit various age groups, focusing on:

Personalized Attention: Small batches for better teacher-student interaction.

Qualified Coaches: Expert instructors with experience in child speech development.

Interactive Methods: Storytelling, games, presentations, and creative speech modules.

Flexible Schedules: Live online classes that blend perfectly with your child’s routine.

This program doesn’t just teach kids how to speak—it helps them shine.

Conclusion

Elocution is more than a skill—it’s a superpower for children in today’s world. It nurtures confidence, creativity, and connection. Investing in your child’s ability to communicate is one of the most impactful decisions you can make for their future.

Empower your child today by enrolling them in our Speak & Shine elocution program at Active Kids.

FAQs

At what age should my child start elocution classes? Children as young as 6 can begin elocution training, with methods tailored to their developmental stage.

How do elocution classes differ from general speech therapy? Elocution focuses on public speaking and clarity, while speech therapy addresses clinical speech disorders.

Can elocution training help with my child’s confidence issues? Absolutely! Speaking clearly boosts self-esteem and reduces anxiety in social settings.

Are online elocution classes effective for young children? Yes, with engaging formats and expert instructors, online classes are highly effective and convenient.

What makes ActiveKidsOnline.com’s program unique? Our child-centric approach, fun methods, and personalized attention make learning enjoyable and results-driven.

know more> https://activekidsonline.com/mastering-elocution-a-comprehensive-guide-to-effective-speaking-for-kids/

[waugh-bao]

I found a little gem of a video on dailymotion. "Equidia chez Charlie Watts des Rolling Stones"

I think its the first time I've seen anything where Charlie and Shirley are talking to one another, at least audibly. It is wonderfully cute.

This is so lovely! I saw a version of it years ago, but it was much shorter and the quality was so poor that I never bothered to post or gif it. It’s a shame we don’t have more footage of them interacting because they’re exactly as funny and cute as one would expect. (Also, sorry about how the thumbnail looks. If you click on the video to play that header and the control buttons will disappear after a few seconds, there was just no way for me to screen capture the first bit of the video without them).

Also, I’m not a dog person, but I love the Wattses rescue dogs. Especially this girl who is so emo about her mum and dad not paying 100% attention to her.

[denimbex1986]

'Andrew Scott has played two of British Television’s most fascinating characters and has become a pop culture staple. The ‘Hot Priest’ of Fleabag gained notoriety for his role as James Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. Since then, he has appeared in a number of prominent roles.

The Ripley star is extremely private about his personal life, although he has spoken about his childhood and sexuality. The Irish national is openly gay and has been a vocal advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights. On the occasion of his 48th birthday, here are a few facts about Scott that fans might now know about him.

1. Andrew Scott Began Acting To Get Over A Speech Impediment

Andrew Scott began his career on the stage and went on to appear in independent Irish films. He reportedly began acting as a child, joining the Speech and Drama class. In an interview with BBC’s This Cultural Life, Scott admitted that he initially joined the class to help with a lisp he had. He said,

The reason I started Speech and Drama was more for the speech element. I had a real lisp when I was a kid and I had to go to these elocution lessons… Eventually, that disappeared, as it does for a lot of children, but then I really got into the drama element.

Scott also mentioned that acting really helped him while he was struggling during his teenage years.

2. Andrew Scott Had A Small Role In Saving Private Ryan

Fans have seen Andrew Scott as the disgruntled soldier in 1917, but he apparently played a really small part in one of the best war films of all time. Scott revealed that he was one of the soldiers who got killed at the opening of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, where the American soldiers storm the beaches of Normandy.

Scott mentioned that he even had a line. However, his work with Spielberg did not end there as he went on to appear in the series Band of Brothers, which was produced by him. The Sherlock star mentioned that working on the show and the film made him realize that he was not a ‘fighter’ (via BBC).

3. Andrew Scott Hated The Initial Response To Sherlock

Tumblr users in the early 2010s remember that the decade was dominated by BBC’s Sherlock, which starred Benedict Cumberbatch as a contemporary version of Sherlock Holmes. The actor was aptly opposed by Andrew Scott’s James Moriarty, his arch-nemesis. Beginning with the final episode of series one, Scott won the BAFTA for his role.

However, Scott was reportedly saddened by some criticisms that he had received when the episode first aired and even called co-creator Mark Gatiss to apologize. He said to BBC,

Some people thought it was great and were really celebrating it, but some people absolutely hated it. I was devastated by that. And embarrassed. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’ve completely humiliated myself’… I remember calling Mark Gatiss and saying, ‘I’m really sorry.’ Because of course, all you remember is the negative stuff. He said, ‘Oh god, I meant to say, never go online’.

The actor reportedly went on to have a healthier attitude towards criticism.

4. The 1917 Star First Commented On His Sexuality In 2013

Andrew Scott has been vocal about his sexuality and has come out as gay. He has since spoken about LGBTQIA+ rights and what representation in the media does to people who are going through similar struggles. Though he is extremely private, he first spoke about his sexuality in an interview with The Independent. He said,

Mercifully, these days people don’t see being gay as a character flaw. But nor is it a virtue, like kindness. Or a talent, like playing the banjo. It’s just a fact. Of course, it’s part of my make-up, but I don’t want to trade on it. I am a private person; I think that’s important if you’re an actor.

According to GQ, the actor was reportedly encouraged to keep his sexuality a secret during the initial stages of his career.

5. Andrew Scott Initially Wanted To Be An Artist

While everyone is delighted that Andrew Scott picked acting and performed in brilliant roles, the Ripley star reportedly dreamed of being an artist as a child. He said to BBC that he was planning on following in his mother’s footsteps as she was an art teacher. He said,

When I was six or seven, I knew I was really interested in painting and drawing. I was really obsessed with it growing up. On a fateful day, when I was 17, I had to choose between these two things,” he says. “I’m left with a sense of guilt… because [painting] was such a huge part of my life growing up, and it’s not as much a part of my life now.

Scott had almost chosen the path and had reportedly won a grant to study painting, but chose acting as he was offered a role in the Irish drama Korea on the same day.'

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

Halfway through their Actors on Actors conversation, Brie Larson and Andrew Scott discover something they have in common: Neither of them is a trained actor. Larson brings up the subject almost hesitantly, to explain why she has difficulty talking about her craft. “I didn’t go to school for it,” she says. “No! I didn’t either!” Scott replies. Excitedly, Larson says: “I knew I liked you!”

Despite any self-professed deficiencies about discussing acting, Larson and Scott insightfully talk about how they each got their start at a young age, and then dive into their current television projects: his remake of “Ripley” on Netflix and her Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” which Larson also developed as an executive producer. Both shows originate from books — Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller and Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 bestseller, respectively — and though their characters are very different (Tom Ripley is a grifter turned murderer; Elizabeth Zott is a thwarted physicist), both stand apart from society, looking in from the outside...

RIPLEY LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY ACTORS ON ACTORS

BY KATE AURTHUR

ANDREW Scott & BRIE Larson

ANDREW SCOTT: I was reading that you were shy as a kid.

BRIE LARSON: Not anymore. I’m totally fine now. I’m totally confident and cool.

SCOTT: I really related to you when I was reading that, because that’s why I started as a kid. I think there’s a slight myth about actors — that they’re very outgoing or sort of precocious. So did you ask to start acting?

LARSON: Yeah. My parents were chiropractors, and I was super shy. I wouldn’t let it go. Of course, it’s changed the course of my life in so many ways. But at a time when I was so shy and had such a hard time expressing myself, at 6 years old, I was basically given, like, “OK, here’s a script for how you have a conversation.” The actual fiber of how I understand how to have pleasant conversations with people is based upon weekly acting sessions.

SCOTT: I used to go to these drama classes on a Saturday, and I would be fully shaking before you go in. And then you’d have to get up in front of your other 7-, 8-year-olds, and do an improvisation, or say a poem or something. I don’t feel like it’s an overstatement to say that I think it’s completely changed my life — not just my career. I had a really bad lisp when I was a kid, so I had to do elocution lessons. I had to go, “He sees seashells by the seashore,” and I just completely got rid of it.

Do you feel shy now?

LARSON: I had to face myself in so many different ways; that’s part of the thing that I actually seek now. I mean, I’m so grateful that I had so much rejection growing up. It’s wild! I very much had a slow burn in my career. I’d get close to things, so I knew that I had something, but I wasn’t booking, or I’d book one job a year or something — just enough to give me hope. It gave me so much experience so that when I was given the opportunities, I was truly ready for it. I never had a time on set where I was like, “Oh, gosh. This is bigger than what I understand.” It was always, like, well paced.

SCOTT: Absolutely. People who get an awful lot of scrutiny at an early age, I think, find it harder to experiment a little bit. So it’s good that I was unemployed for so long.

LARSON: It turns out I’m so happy that it seemed like it wasn’t working out for me! Look at us now! But, yeah, when I was stalking you online, I was like, “Wow, it feels similar.”

SCOTT: Just to wrap that shyness thing up, somebody said a really brilliant thing to me, which was, like, “There’s nothing wrong with being shy. Be shy. It’s a nice thing you go a little bit red.”

LARSON: I blush very easily. It’s horrible.

SCOTT: So “Lessons in Chemistry.”

LARSON: Let’s talk about our shows.

SCOTT: She’s singular, but it’s not shyness. She’s actually quite forthright. It’s beautiful stuff. And you’ve been involved with it for …?

LARSON: I think it took two years. Maybe longer. But I think it was about two years when we started working on it to then actually filming it.

SCOTT: Are you so proud of this?

LARSON: Yeah, I think so. I’m proud of what we achieved in the time that we did. I don’t have a connection to when it goes out in the world; it just feels like then it’s not about me anymore — it’s just images and feelings. I am proud of how much we said in the show. I felt like we got a lot in it, and a really amazing group of people that worked on it. And I loved playing her.

SCOTT: Were you looking at the edit and all that kind of stuff?

LARSON: All the time. And nonstop.

SCOTT: Did you find that you were able to …

LARSON: … detach? You have to. I’m just like, “Of course I didn’t do it all right.”

SCOTT: I think there’s maybe a fear that people are going to say, “We need another close-up of me, please.”

LARSON: I felt very committed to finding what things weren’t working. Especially with a character that I also felt was very different from me, and how little she emotionally expresses.

SCOTT: I love that about it.

LARSON: I struggled with it a lot, and I felt very lost with it. I am just very used to my understanding of when something’s working — when it feels very true and I’m just in it. And I would be in it with her, but I felt like the part of me that would want to cry, for example, was being pushed. She’s always twisting the knot inside, and won’t give it to anybody.

When you’re playing Tom Ripley, what does it feel like to lie when he’s lying?

SCOTT: Well, I tried to make him lie as little as he could get away with, so that he lies in order to get himself out of a situation. And he murders to get himself out of a situation. He’s not bloodthirsty. I mean, he could have not murdered, I suppose.

LARSON: Yeah.

SCOTT: We all make that decision.

LARSON: Yeah, no, it’s a choice you make every day.

SCOTT: I suppose any of those things about him being a liar or sociopath, I found unhelpful. The kind of stuff that Tom Ripley, I suppose, is famous for as an iconic literary character — “Is he a psychopath?” or “Is he a murderer?” or whatever. But the murder-y parts — we shot it for nearly a year, and they only took up a few weeks.

LARSON: He’s mostly not murdering. I have a question about playing a character that has existed in many different iterations and forms. I feel like you have experience with that, because you do theater as well. Do you have the same approach every time, in terms of researching and watching previous versions of it? Or do you just block it out?

SCOTT: Absolutely, I block it. Because, No. 1, I adored the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” — the Minghella movie with Matt Damon and Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow and all those amazing people. But mercifully, I hadn’t seen it in a very long time. One of the first conversations I had with Steven Zaillian, our writer-director, was “Why?” And he had such a singular vision for it. He wanted it a very particular way. I was worried that I was too old and blah, blah, blah — I had just a very specific idea that was based on the film.

I had to remind myself that that film was also a reiteration of something: There was another version with Alain Delon before. There were loads of different ones. So it has been reinterpreted a lot. And I feel like it’s very important that he said, “We want to age the characters up.” And he was talking about this very particular kind of noirish black-and-white vision that he had. And that made me feel very comfortable. And I always think that it’s important, because it happens in the theater so much — if it was a Shakespeare character, thousands of people have played one character. I always find that really interesting. I think the response, I suppose, is to be respectful, but not too reverent. What’s the point of doing it if you’re going to do it exactly the same way? So I didn’t look.

LARSON: What do you think about some sort of Ripley universe — into the Ripley-verse? Just all the Ripleys.

SCOTT: Like Marvel? Sort of like the Fantastic Four? Is that a thing? Oh, and they all get together?

LARSON: Yeah, Ripleys together. I’m just curious. I got a couple studios interested, so I just …

SCOTT: You do? So kind of you! You make things happen. Are you not tired? You’ve been setting up projects for me? God, you’re kind.

LARSON: No, I’m writing a part for myself as well.

SCOTT: You’d be a good Tom Ripley! 

[charlyounight]

Intro:

walk the fields that make you feel beautiful, look inward to the thoughts that make you full with love, and with affection caress your hair, your heart and sometimes, look in the mirror and realize you are a work of art.

“Your birth stabilized my life a lot”, my dad said at dinner one night.

“Its like you were born and I had suddenly won a lottery. I got a better job, a better income, a better house. You brought all these new, more legitimate reasons for us to be happy. You made us very content”

Used to, I wanted to correct him. I used to make my parents happy. I was their first daughter, their first child. I was the apple of their eye, the sun in their days and the stars in their night skies. They knew I would do something great, so they named me a name that meant unique. I was this very quiet and sweet kid. I didn’t cry when strangers took me in their arms.

“Oh my god, she does not know how to cry!”, they’d say with their faces stretched broad into a smile, while looking at my slightly anxious face. My parents took that as a compliment. I was naughty, yes. But my limits were defined. I never hurt anybody.

Except maybe when I was months old and my mom was stitching a frock for me. I distracted her and the needle pierced right through her index finger.

Or maybe when I was a year and a few months. I opened the drawer of our dressing table, saw a blade and held it tightly in right fist. I am sure it hurt me. It stung a bit, I think. And then, I remember seeing myself in the mirror, my face gradually scrunching in a big, loud cry. My mum came rushing out the bathroom. She was worried.

Or maybe it was a few months later, when I was sat on a plastic chair beside the sharp edge of our kitchen wall. And when I stood up, the chair slipped backwards. I fell, my forehead sliding on the sharp wall. Blood oozed out of my left eyebrow, and my parents rushed me to the hospital. I got eight stitches.

Or was it when I started not winning competitions? Or when I started getting bad grades? Using my phone too much? Could it be that time I lied to my mom about studying sincerely? Or when I calculated the answers to my abacus homework with a calculator and my mom found out? Or maybe when I gave my first social science exam and didn’t fill in the map because I was too stupid to understand the instructions? Or could it be when I was in 10th grade and didn’t know much of how the legislature worked? (my mom called me dumb for that). Was it when my mom saw my father’s despicable traits showing up in me? When i started talking back, not keeping my room clean, not putting my dirty cup in the basin, not studying, not respecting anyone, manipulating my own parents?

When was it, that my parents realized that their golden child was gone? When did they finally realize I don’t have it in me anymore? That I can’t win competitions and get good grades and dance and study and have a fulfilling life? When was it, that they knew I wasn’t the daughter they made? That I wasn’t after all, unique?

I used to be an over-achiever kid. I won elocution competitions, dance competitions, handwriting competitions. I was smart, I used to get straight A’s. I was teacher’s favorite. “She looks like she’s always lost in her own fairytale.”, “She’s a gifted kid.”, “She is such a cute kid.”, “Having her in my class is a blessing.”, “She’s just amazing over-all!”. These words were repeated in every parent-teacher meeting my parents ever went to.

And then something happened. I wasn’t that kid anymore. I was suddenly different. I stopped dancing, I stopped studying, I used my phone too much, I started lying, cussing people out for fun, making sex fantasies, living in my head too much.

What used to be a bright, sunny day stretched over a vast field of yellow sunflowers, pink and white roses, apple-red and ivory tulips, orange and peach gradient hibiscuses, a large lake with quivering ripples, and rocks by the water bank covered with soft green moss and small fishes that shone like gold and silver, rubies and sapphires beneath the bright green and blue hue of the water- soon enough turned into a dark overcast day, a cloudy sky, and the sun barely visible.

The flowers now rot in the soil that once shimmered like silk under the sun, and the unmoving, dead fishes float upon the still water- the water looks colorful for now, but soon it will take on the color of the sky.

There was a girl that tended to this field, not long ago. The girl lived in the hut near the lake.

Now, she barely comes out. You see, she woke up one day, and saw herself in the new mirror she put across her bed the previous night, but something wasn’t right. She wasn’t as pretty as the flowers she took care of, her hair wasn’t as soft as the moss on the rocks she so often sat on, and her eyes didn’t glimmer the way the water in the lake did.

Was it fair? For her to take care of nature the way she did and not get it back in return? I mean, it’s not like she ever looked after her world to expect something in return in the first place. But doesn’t everyone say what goes around comes around? Why hasn’t it come around for her yet? How long will it take? How many more flowers to tend to? How many more fishes to feed? How long?

She got up that day nevertheless, feeling bitter. But she did well that day. And the next. And so it went on for some while, until her bitterness reached a peak. When it did, she stayed in the hut, feeling guilty for not taking care of herself, her flowers, her fishes, her moss, her world. But one look at herself in the mirror, and the anger would return. Why? Why am I not pretty to myself, when everything around me is as pretty as I want to be? she wondered, not realizing that the mirror she bought was erroneous, misleading, faulty even.

There was nothing wrong with her. The mirror merely couldn’t capture her beauty. Her flowing hair, her dark eyes, her glowing skin, her sultry body, her deep brown moles against her fair skin- everything so close to a piece of art.

Every imperfection, so close to perfection.

Almost as if it’s been placed there not by mistake, but by precise, meticulous hands.

If only she could leave the hut she so often didn’t anymore, and buy a new mirror. Maybe, just maybe, the beauty of her presence in itself, is more than enough to lighten the sky. And just walking through the wooden door of her hut and into the field would be enough to bring life to the fishes she forgot to feed so long ago, to the flowers she envied for their beauty and the moss that missed her touch.

Maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t even need a mirror. Because she is enough. Enough, as she is. She lacks nothing. She fulfills what she thinks she lacks. She gives life to the things she finds beauty in, and that is beautiful in itself. It’s gorgeous even. Breathtaking.

[hafizrizwan]

Learn Quran Online: Expert Quran Classes for Kids

Engaging Youthful Personalities: The Best Online Quran Classes for kids. A kid concentrates on the Quran online with Tajweed elocution while situated on a request mat close to a PC laying on a low wooden table. The space highlights both Islamic beautifications and unpretentious light alongside a serene climate.

[knowledgenook]

Allow your child a head begin with Kiya Learning's Phonics for Kids classes in Singapore! Our experienced teaches give locks in, intuitively lessons to assist youthful learners create solid perusing and elocution abilities. Fun and instructive, our program builds a strong establishment for education. Enlist with Kiya Learning nowadays for a brighter future!

[hifilibrary]

Kids Summer Camp at HiFi Library!

Get ready for an unforgettable summer adventure at HiFi Library's Kids Summer Camp! From 29th April to 3rd May 2024. Join us from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm for a jam-packed schedule of exciting activities designed to spark creativity, enhance skills, and make memories.

Our dynamic line up includes: • Music sessions to explore rhythms and melodies. • Brain-teasing Funtime activities to challenge opponents and stimulate your mind. • Elocution workshops to boost confidence in public speaking. • Mathemagic sessions for mind-bending mathematical feats. • Sudoku challenges to sharpen logical thinking. • Doodling sessions for artistic expression. • Art & Craft projects to unleash imagination. • Calligraphy classes to master the art of beautiful writing and more!

Hurry, seats are limited! To secure your child's spot, contact us at HiFi Library on +91 9821561569.

Let's make this summer one to remember with fun, learning, and friendships!

[phoenixyfriend]

I keep wanting to do an AU where like... Vader's ghost fucks around pre-AotC. Like he had his return to the light and all that, but his face is very much Anakin Skywalker's face, and wearing the suit as a GHOST doesn't hurt, and it's more intimidating, so... Vader just runs around scaring the living daylights out of people to make them less shitty, like the Ghost of Christmas Past but unimaginably worse.

So there's this Sith Ghost running around being ominous and talking like a thesaurus who once took a poetry class because his first master said it was important and his second master insisted on elocution lessons for the Giant Goth Tank, and the (ex) Sith Ghost hates the Jedi but hates Sidious more, and between harassing the Hutts and Haunting the Zygerrians, Vader stalks Obi-Wan Kenobi to tell him exactly where to find the bad guys, because he doesn't want to scare Padme but there's nobody else he trusts in this bitch of a galaxy so it's gotta be Obi-Wan.

Knight Kenobi, crucially, wakes up to the dead cyborg with a hologram filter standing at the foot of his bed with grave tidings, regularly. This happens! To him! It sucks! He tries to ignore the ghost, and to redirect it, and to ask why a Sith would even want to help the Jedi in the first place, how many CENTURIES have you been buried or burned, anyway?

"None. I yet live on, in some respect, though I have died burning upon the shores of Mustafar, and again in the arms of my son."

Still alive in some respect means the kid might be alive too, right? "Where is your son, maybe he could--"

"Unmade."

Great.

Anyways, sometimes he shows up and gets semi-tangible to protect something through the power of "being so terrifying the enemy shits their pants." Obi-Wan still isn't sure if Vader even CAN kill anyone in this state, but he sure does threaten!

(Vader's lightsaber does not work as a ghost. His ability to choke a bitch, however...)

[activekidsonline]

Public Speaking & Elocution Classes for Kids - ActiveKids

Enhance your child’s confidence with our Public Speaking Course! Explore speech & drama, elocution, and debate classes online for future leaders!

[waugh-bao]

Not sure if you would know, but thought it worth a try. What type of accent did Charlie have? I know in England accents seem to have more meaning than in America, in terms of class and not just being a signal of where you’re from. I’ve read that Mick changes his to seem like he’s not as posh and I’ve also read that people respect Charlie never changed his. But what is it? Just cockney? I don’t know, but I like it. Especially on words like water and daughter, like when he was talking about the IORR video and said he doesn’t like “me head under water”.

Accents in the UK, and especially England, are a huge cultural and class marker in a way they just really aren’t in the US. Like there is a general bias you’ll see in America of, for example, perceiving people with southern accents as less educated or intelligent vis a vis a more standard northeastern ones, but they don’t have as much regional and class variance and significance. There’s a really good NYT’s article on the subject from the early ‘90s that does a deep dive on it. One of the important things to keep in mind is that even the English accents which outsiders might be familiar with, like RP (Received Pronunciation) come in variations, between the very standard and crisp BBC newsreader of the ‘40s-90s type and the aristocratic variant that has a bunch of peculiarities in pronunciation and vocabulary (think King Charles and the tendency to pronounce a word like “power” as “pāh”). I lived in London for almost 4 years to do my undergrad degree and go back frequently, and of all the places I’ve been in the world it’s still far and away the one where people are the most likely to openly comment on your accent. I was lucky in that the comments were mostly positive, but it’s still a jarring experience when you first start living there.

Mick’s accent is 100% a put on. I hate to cite Bill as a credible source, but he has a point when he says that Mick’s accent is a fake, which is something people who have worked for him have also said. It’s a really exaggerated Cockney accent, which doesn’t match being from a pretty far London suburb (Dartford) or having grown up middle class. Considering his age and background he probably had elocution lessons as a kid to learn to speak RP, especially because people who are around him in private have said he speaks “The Queen’s English.” It’s an act to look like an ‘authentic’ rock star, which there is often associated with coming from a lower class, tough background. When in reality he went to university and is the child of a homemaker and a PE teacher. I think Keith’s accent is authentic, it’s just a very non-standard jumble of Cockney, RP, and American mid-Atlantic, because he’s lived in the US longer than he has in the UK at this point.

My (tentative) classification for Charlie would be Estuary English. It’s a cross between RP and Cockney that’s associated with the Thames and its estuary/the wide London region and surrounding suburbs and towns. Charlie definitely leaned heavier to the Cockney side, especially earlier in his life, but there’s a really interesting combination of the two dialects in his way of speaking. Like that quote you pointed out, he was never consistent in making the “my - me” switchover, where the “me” as possessive article is hugely characteristic of Cockney English. It’s the same thing with his “h”s, sometimes he dropped them and sometimes he didn’t (although RP can do that sometimes too, but not as often). He also tended to use more outmoded vocabulary from Cockney slang, with words like “bloke”, which was probably a reflection of the fact that he never really lived in London (other than keeping a flat in Kensington, which is a bastion of RP) after the mid-1960s and was holding onto the variety from his childhood and young adult years.

[denimbex1986]

Halfway through their Actors on Actors conversation, Brie Larson and Andrew Scott discover something they have in common: Neither of them is a trained actor. Larson brings up the subject almost hesitantly, to explain why she has difficulty talking about her craft. “I didn’t go to school for it,” she says. “No! I didn’t either!” Scott replies. Excitedly, Larson says: “I knew I liked you!” Despite any self-professed deficiencies about discussing acting, Larson and Scott insightfully talk about how they each got their start at a young age, and then dive into their current television projects: his remake of “Ripley” on Netflix and her Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” which Larson also developed as an executive producer. Both shows originate from books — Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller and Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 bestseller, respectively — and though their characters are very different (Tom Ripley is a grifter turned murderer; Elizabeth Zott is a thwarted physicist), both stand apart from society, looking in from the outside.

ANDREW SCOTT: I was reading that you were shy as a kid.

BRIE LARSON: Not anymore. I’m totally fine now. I’m totally confident and cool.

SCOTT: I really related to you when I was reading that, because that’s why I started as a kid. I think there’s a slight myth about actors — that they’re very outgoing or sort of precocious. So did you ask to start acting?

LARSON: Yeah. My parents were chiropractors, and I was super shy. I wouldn’t let it go. Of course, it’s changed the course of my life in so many ways. But at a time when I was so shy and had such a hard time expressing myself, at 6 years old, I was basically given, like, “OK, here’s a script for how you have a conversation.” The actual fiber of how I understand how to have pleasant conversations with people is based upon weekly acting sessions.

SCOTT: I used to go to these drama classes on a Saturday, and I would be fully shaking before you go in. And then you’d have to get up in front of your other 7-, 8-year-olds, and do an improvisation, or say a poem or something. I don’t feel like it’s an overstatement to say that I think it’s completely changed my life — not just my career. I had a really bad lisp when I was a kid, so I had to do elocution lessons. I had to go, “He sees seashells by the seashore,” and I just completely got rid of it.

Do you feel shy now?

LARSON: I had to face myself in so many different ways; that’s part of the thing that I actually seek now. I mean, I’m so grateful that I had so much rejection growing up. It’s wild! I very much had a slow burn in my career. I’d get close to things, so I knew that I had something, but I wasn’t booking, or I’d book one job a year or something — just enough to give me hope. It gave me so much experience so that when I was given the opportunities, I was truly ready for it. I never had a time on set where I was like, “Oh, gosh. This is bigger than what I understand.” It was always, like, well paced.

SCOTT: Absolutely. People who get an awful lot of scrutiny at an early age, I think, find it harder to experiment a little bit. So it’s good that I was unemployed for so long.

LARSON: It turns out I’m so happy that it seemed like it wasn’t working out for me! Look at us now! But, yeah, when I was stalking you online, I was like, “Wow, it feels similar.”

SCOTT: Just to wrap that shyness thing up, somebody said a really brilliant thing to me, which was, like, “There’s nothing wrong with being shy. Be shy. It’s a nice thing you go a little bit red.”

LARSON: I blush very easily. It’s horrible.

SCOTT: So “Lessons in Chemistry.”

LARSON: Let’s talk about our shows.

SCOTT: She’s singular, but it’s not shyness. She’s actually quite forthright. It’s beautiful stuff. And you’ve been involved with it for …?

LARSON: I think it took two years. Maybe longer. But I think it was about two years when we started working on it to then actually filming it.

SCOTT: Are you so proud of this?

LARSON: Yeah, I think so. I’m proud of what we achieved in the time that we did. I don’t have a connection to when it goes out in the world; it just feels like then it’s not about me anymore — it’s just images and feelings. I am proud of how much we said in the show. I felt like we got a lot in it, and a really amazing group of people that worked on it. And I loved playing her.

SCOTT: Were you looking at the edit and all that kind of stuff?

LARSON: All the time. And nonstop.

SCOTT: Did you find that you were able to …

LARSON: … detach? You have to. I’m just like, “Of course I didn’t do it all right.”

SCOTT: I think there’s maybe a fear that people are going to say, “We need another close-up of me, please.”

LARSON: I felt very committed to finding what things weren’t working. Especially with a character that I also felt was very different from me, and how little she emotionally expresses.

SCOTT: I love that about it.

LARSON: I struggled with it a lot, and I felt very lost with it. I am just very used to my understanding of when something’s working — when it feels very true and I’m just in it. And I would be in it with her, but I felt like the part of me that would want to cry, for example, was being pushed. She’s always twisting the knot inside, and won’t give it to anybody.

When you’re playing Tom Ripley, what does it feel like to lie when he’s lying?

SCOTT: Well, I tried to make him lie as little as he could get away with, so that he lies in order to get himself out of a situation. And he murders to get himself out of a situation. He’s not bloodthirsty. I mean, he could have not murdered, I suppose.

LARSON: Yeah.

SCOTT: We all make that decision.

LARSON: Yeah, no, it’s a choice you make every day.

SCOTT: I suppose any of those things about him being a liar or sociopath, I found unhelpful. The kind of stuff that Tom Ripley, I suppose, is famous for as an iconic literary character — “Is he a psychopath?” or “Is he a murderer?” or whatever. But the murder-y parts — we shot it for nearly a year, and they only took up a few weeks.

LARSON: He’s mostly not murdering. I have a question about playing a character that has existed in many different iterations and forms. I feel like you have experience with that, because you do theater as well. Do you have the same approach every time, in terms of researching and watching previous versions of it? Or do you just block it out?

SCOTT: Absolutely, I block it. Because, No. 1, I adored the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” — the Minghella movie with Matt Damon and Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow and all those amazing people. But mercifully, I hadn’t seen it in a very long time. One of the first conversations I had with Steven Zaillian, our writer-director, was “Why?” And he had such a singular vision for it. He wanted it a very particular way. I was worried that I was too old and blah, blah, blah — I had just a very specific idea that was based on the film.

I had to remind myself that that film was also a reiteration of something: There was another version with Alain Delon before. There were loads of different ones. So it has been reinterpreted a lot. And I feel like it’s very important that he said, “We want to age the characters up.” And he was talking about this very particular kind of noirish black-and-white vision that he had. And that made me feel very comfortable. And I always think that it’s important, because it happens in the theater so much — if it was a Shakespeare character, thousands of people have played one character. I always find that really interesting. I think the response, I suppose, is to be respectful, but not too reverent. What’s the point of doing it if you’re going to do it exactly the same way? So I didn’t look.

LARSON: What do you think about some sort of Ripley universe — into the Ripley-verse? Just all the Ripleys.

SCOTT: Like Marvel? Sort of like the Fantastic Four? Is that a thing? Oh, and they all get together?

LARSON: Yeah, Ripleys together. I’m just curious. I got a couple studios interested, so I just …

SCOTT: You do? So kind of you! You make things happen. Are you not tired? You’ve been setting up projects for me? God, you’re kind.

LARSON: No, I’m writing a part for myself as well.

SCOTT: You’d be a good Tom Ripley! 

[momo-t-daye]

Severus had heard whispered tales about the sort of things what the upper classes got up to, but he’d been awfully skeptical even as a little kid

Lucius, for his part, resolved to start implementing elocution lessons at once, if only to spare himself from horrendous mental images

...I had fun drawing Sev and Lily’s expressions...

[buttercupsfrocks]

Greetings, tumblr. I warn you this isn't going to be much of a post for a whole raft of reasons:-

It's hotter than Satan's buttcrack outside and, consequently, inside my un-airconditioned first floor flat.

It's impossible for me to look soigné or remotely put together when I'm a sweaty, irritable mess.

There is a British Gas engineer currently boring holes in the outside walls of my flat with the aim of relocating my gas meter. The same thing is going on in my downstairs neighbours' flat. We have no say in this noisy, intrusive, cat-terrorising folderol. They've been threatening to do it for four years and we are literally the last house in the last street to be done. 'twas ever thus.

I had in fact written about two thirds of this original post and saved it as a draft. Tumblr since appears to have eaten that draft and washed it down with a nice Chianti. I have since lost the will to live.

My hair, as you can see, looked like crap when I took these pics.

The reason my hair looks like shite is because twelve days ago I had a cataract in my right eye removed and getting one's 'do done is not recommended for a couple of weeks after surgery.

Prior to surgery I had to take out my right contact lens and affect an eye-patch for a couple of weeks. I did not look piratical. Mainly because the size and positioning of my ears made the elastic intolerable after twenty minutes tops. Instead I had to make do with a Moorfields eyeshield stuffed with tissues and stuck to my face with Micropore. In 40ºC.

I'm hoping to get the left eye sorted late September/early October. A few weeks after that I'll find out whether I'll still need to wear contact lenses for distance and what prescription my new readers will be.

So, yeah, cataracts. Only partial but rubbish genetics on my paternal grandmother's side have resulted in those and an official diagnosis of Pathological Myopia along with a squint I didn't even know I had. The cataract/next-best-thing-to-blind double whammy has been causing me double vision and a blind spot in my right eye for years and the situation was becoming critical. I'd also experienced occular migraines during lockdown, though I think they were down to stress. But, in short, my eyesight was a shitshow and I'd gotten whiplash from the conflicting advice I've received by eye specialists the length and breadth of London. I'm relieved to say Moorfields cataract department got the last word. Thus far I'm optimistic. Three weeks ago I couldn't read the numbers on buses unless I was physically boarding one. Now I could probably see them from space.

But back to the main content of the post. Identically-cut Monki frock, gingham edition. Thus far they've offered this design in black, beige, light blue, orange, and lilac gingham. But there's a reason why the emerald green variation called to my heart.

Between the ages of 4 and 9 I attended a tiny private co-educational school. Admittedly this was many years ago but even then it was quaint and anachronistic. It was run by three sisters called Fowle and I had an elocution teacher who was older than God's dog and still wore long skirts and a bonnet. On Mondays we had to march, in single file, around the room we took dance classes in, in freshly whitened plimsoles to the strains of what later became the theme music to Monty Python's Flying Circus; this mysterious custom was known as Drill. We walked to the Headmistress's home for lunch every day, which was cooked by the kinder of her two sisters. That's how small the school was. It was also attended by kids of every conceivable nationality and ethnicity, and after it closed in the early 70s, the building subsequently became one of Erin Pizzey's shelters for women fleeing somestic violence.

As a sprog my summer school uniform featured a green gingham dress, which I always rather liked. But – get this – the size of the gingham squares increased proportionally with the age and height of the wearer. So, while my dresses had teeny tiny squares on them, the "seniors" had big ones on theirs. By the time I was of high school age and attending a different institution, sixth formers were no longer required to wear uniform, but as soon as I clocked this dress the exotic allure of achieving Big Green Square Status came rushing back and I knew I had to claim it.

Stay weird, tumblr. (And hydrated).

[masterwords]

hi omg I loved your hotch stutter blurb so much!!! I’ve been thinking about it all day I was wondering if you have any other hotch stutter hcs?

Hi! Wow, thank you so much! I had no idea that little story was going to be so well received, I'm kind of in awe right now. <3 When I was writing it I was trying to think of Hotch as a kid with a stutter, and it was simultaneously sad and sweet, so here is what I had kind of scribbled out as a little background, I did my best to put it down as better hcs. (I hope this goes without saying, but I mean no disrespect to anyone with this. If it is hurtful in any way, I apologize.)

He had two adults in his life that influenced his stuttering the most. His grandmother and the librarian and his town's Public Library.

His grandmother, well meaning as she was, made it worse sometimes. Being from a long line of lawyers, speech is important to the Hotchners and she was incessant about diction and elocution lessons because she knows two things. A lawyer can't stutter and a Hotchner becomes a lawyer.

They didn't have speech therapists around, but he could learn how to speak clearly, use proper spacing, have a controlled delivery and she hoped it might help with his stutter. It was either that or put him in theatre classes, but he was such a shy boy she didn't think he'd be very successful.

The lessons were hard and he didn't often come away feeling very successful, but when he did do well and his grandmother praised him he felt on top of the world. He didn't have to earn her love, he knew she adored him. It was more important that he'd earned her acceptance and her pride. She was hard on him but she believed in him and he was never one to shy away from hard work.

There were bad days that made him feel motivated to do better and worse days that broke him, and he would be in tears by the time the lessons were over. His grandmother would sit and watch each lesson, and she would take him out for a milkshake on the worst days. They wouldn't talk about the lesson, wouldn't acknowledge that the milkshake was for that at all, in fact sometimes they wouldn't even speak they would just sit side by side at the counter and enjoy their treats in silence.

He grew up in a time where stuttering wasn't well understood and he was made fun of a lot for it so instead of playing with other kids he stayed by himself, stopped talking socially and joined sports. It was a way to be social without needing to have conversations. He could be ashamed of his speech disorder but he could put his shoulder down and tackle the hell out of a kid twice his size therefore gaining respect without anyone wanting to hear his thoughts on something.

During the summer he would take the booklist for the following year of school to the Public Library and check each of them out, read them from start to finish, and practice reading aloud from them. He would sit in the library for hours whispering the words over and over again, finding each instance of words and sounds that made him block, made note cards of phrases that were hard for him to say. He knew he'd be asked to read aloud in class and he needed to plan ahead.

By the time school started again he knew most of the information, was exhausted and had no idea why everyone loved summer vacation so much. It was harder work than the school year.

The librarian noticed him doing this and offered to help, to listen to him speak. She told him that her husband grew up with a stutter and offered words of wisdom, ways to stay calm when he could feel the shame and anxiety building while he spoke which only made things worse. Her husband would tap his toe in a rhythm and it helped his sentences flow, took the pressure off of the words. Hotch couldn't seem to find the right rhythm with his toe but he found that using his thumb worked. Tapping or scraping against his ring or middle finger centered his thoughts and was easily hidden, he could make a fist, he could have his hands at his side casually, he could even use his hands to speak and still manage to use his little trick. It didn't always work, but it helped and became a source of comfort when things got exceptionally difficult.

[ravnicaforgoblins]

Ravnica for Goblins

The Azorius Senate

History: Founded by Azor I, the Sphinx responsible for writing a majority of the original Guildpact, the Azorius Senate had a big part in organizing Ravnica’s government and maintain it to this day. Theirs is the most complete history, as its members are scrupulous about keeping records. Recording and preserving history is a core tenet of the Azorius Senate, not just for themselves, but for all of Ravnica. As a result, if you need to find a book or a piece of information about the past, the Azorius should have it. Criminal records, personnel files, building blueprints, personal histories; it’s all here. It’s just a matter of getting to it.

Organization: More than any other Guild, the Azorius Senate is meticulously organized. Its three Columns are represented on the Guild’s symbol:

The Sova Column (judges, arbitrators, legal aides, librarians, lawyers, etc) are in charge of making rulings in legal disputes. They decide what’s legal, what isn’t legal, and provide mediation for tough calls. Their word is final and carries serious weight.

The Jelenn Column (scribes, elocuters, notaries, lawmakers, legislators, researchers, messengers, etc) write the laws. Every member dreams of one day adding a new law they’ve written to the Guildpact. Their knowledge of Ravnica’s laws is second to none.

The Lyev Column (lawmages, hieromancers, arrestors, nullmages, investigators, enforcers, soldiers, etc) uphold the laws. They patrol streets, issuing warnings, carrying out warrants, making arrests, and function as eyes & ears on the streets. They are equipped for the job of detaining, pacifying, or incapacitating lawbreakers from any Guild.

Alignment Spectrum: Azorius are lawful if nothing else. The Guildpact is the single most powerful magic on the plane of Ravnica and the Azorius’ knowledge of it is unmatched by that of any other Guild. Laws are literally the source of their power, so having any other alignment can be a serious hindrance to an Azorius member. Ideally, the Azorius are Lawful Neutral, concerned with enforcing the laws as written, with no favoritism for anyone. Lawful Good are those who want to use the law to make life better for others because they believe in it. Hero cops, basically. Lawful Evil are those who use the law to their own means. Dirty cops, basically. Thing is, as long as an Azorius has the law on their side, their Guild will back them up. There may be repercussions, however.

Signature Elements: Since Guildpact magic is as powerful as it is, Azorius don’t have many other requirements besides a strong commitment to carrying it out. Azroius is largely populated by humans, as well as a good number of Vedalken, and their fair share of Giants. Being primarily booksmart, Azorius are very likely to have high Intelligence. They wear white & blue uniforms based on their rank & position, have notebooks & writing implements on them at all times, ride horses or griffins, and standard issue armor & weapons for those out on the streets. Azorius magic is law magic and typically takes the form of runes, symbols, floating letters, and glowing bonds/chains. It is firm & iron-clad, but always more focused on detainment than injury. That said, a 4′11″ Azorius can stop a rampaging 25ft tall Simic Krasis with a word and a piece of paper. That’s not just metaphor, I literally mean a piece of paper and clear annunciation can have that much magical power. Combat-wise, Azorius prefer weaponry that discourages unlawful behavior, such as spears, shields, and hammers. It only hurts if you insist on fighting. Magically, Azorius prefer to nullify threats with spells like Command, Hold Person, and especially Counterspell. Take away a mage’s spells and they might as well be a normal civilian.

Your Role in Ravnica: Patrol the streets, research the Guildpact, follow your orders, and above all, maintain order. That last one is the single most important aspect of being an Azorius, but it doesn’t have to be as constricting as it sounds. “Order” in Ravnica has a different meaning than it does on other planes. If a Rakdos troupe is putting on a disturbing knife display involving blood magic at one of their venues, your job is not to stop the show. Your job is to make sure it doesn’t get out of control and spill out into the streets. The status quo is balance, not utopia. If a Guild is building up an army, your job is surveillance, if a Guild is overstepping their boundaries, your job is to put them back in their place. If a threat to the city or its inhabitants emerges, your job is to neutralize it.

Your Territory: Within the Tenth District, the Azorius are most heavily focused in the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Districts. 1st District, being central within the city and home of the Guildpact, is patrolled most regularly. 2nd District, being the site of the Azorius Guildhall New Prahv, has the highest concentration of Azorius in the entire city. Not just patrols, but living quarters, barracks, airship stations, stables, legal offices, as well as prison compounds. It is among the most heavily guarded & fortified structures on the plane. The 5th District contains Prism University, Ravnica’s most highly esteemed educational college, as well as the Ismeri Library, the largest collection of knowledge & information in the city. While not strictly Azorius, the Library is generally filled with lawmages, researchers, students, and bibliophiles, all commonplace amongst the Senate.

Your Guildhall: New Prahv is the single largest building in Ravnica. A trifecta of titanic pillars towers atop a fortress prison nearly a mile wide and a thousand feet tall. It is an impenetrable reminder of the Azorius’ presence within the city. It’s not particularly subtle, but that’s very much the point. Azorius might be annoying out on the streets, but here they are absolute.

Your Guildmaster: The Azorius Senate has been through many Guildmasters, some longer than others. Like many real governments, most of the Guildmasters have been elected to the position based on legal merit/standing as opposed to physical strength. Most have been human (Konstantin I-II, Leonos I-II, Lucian I-III, Augustin I-IV, Lavinia I), with one Vedalken (Dovin Baan) and a couple of Sphinx (Azor I and Isperia). Their role is to issue final judgements, much like a supreme court judge, as well as to oversee the operations of every branch of the Senate. It is exceedingly rare for them to leave their posts, and almost unthinkable to see them out on the streets or in a fight.

Why You’re Awesome: Azorius know a lot. Not just about their own Guild, but about every Guild. To them, knowing literally is half the battle. The Azorius Senate are that one kid in class who actually reads the textbook and raises the collective average of the rest of the class by at least one letter grade. Not only that, but you have one of the largest & most impressive arsenals on the plane backing you up. Your job is to maintain order in a city with Psycho Murder Clowns, make no mistake, Azorius are built to hold fast against any threat, no matter how big. Paladins, Clerics, Wizards, Bards, Airships, Giants, and Griffins. Azorius are best equipped for dealing with threats that rely on only their strongest skill. Thugs, berserkers, raiders, beasts, etc who can excel at physical combat but dump Intelligence or Wisdom stats. Wizards and Sorcerers with massive repertoires of spells at their disposal but no backup plan for having every spell countered or nullified. Seeing the expressions on these individuals’ faces when they realize they don’t have a contingency for such situations is priceless.

Why You’re Problematic: To call the Azorius unpopular is a bit of an understatement. The general consensus about them among the other Guilds ranges from pity to annoyance to outright hatred. The Azorius are unyielding and non-negotiable, and read way too many gods-damn books. There’s also the matter of Ravnica’s own legal system being your greatest weapon as well as your greatest hindrance. Part of your job is to record all crimes you see, jaywalking through illegal detonation of a Purple Wurm, and there are utter mountains of paperwork attached to report. In addition, your Guild moves at what could generously be called a snail’s pace, requiring any major changes or decisions to go all the way up the ladder before any action is made. Worse, many of the other Guilds know this, and have learned how to subvert and dodge legal ramifications over the millennia. Orzhov specialize in finding creative loopholes in specific laws, whereas your job is more of a broad understanding of them. Last, but almost certainly not least, the Azorius Senate strives to be the pinnacle of law & order within the city, but the system is far from perfect. Mistakes are made, and the consequences can be alarming. Azorius strive towards a Greater Good mindset, and some of their actions in pursuit of this have been downright unforgivable.

Myths: You're boring.

You have a stick up your ass that could crack an Orc skull.

Laws are stupid and you’re stupid for following them.

You are required to be a Rules Lawyer.

You can’t do anything in a real fight.

You have to play a high Intelligence character.

No one likes you.

Reality: You’re dependable.

They’ll thank you for keeping notes someday.

Law Magic is the strongest on this plane, only a few Guilds actually learn it.

Lawmages specialize in rules, Arresters specialize in enforcement.

Your warhammer isn’t for show.

You only have to be smart enough to know who you can hit and who you can’t.

You didn’t join this Guild to be popular.