Mumbly Joe

I have the particular habit of mumbling. In my head, my voice is clear enough but too often people miss what I am saying. It seems to be a combination of being too quiet, having a bass voice and not enunciating properly.

Near as I can figure, this is my response to having a very loud family. With three kids running around our house, plus a menagerie of animals, volume was a given. My parents and my siblings each have impressive pipes, too.

If you're arguing, the best tactic is to raise your voice, right? And if other people are speaking, we get louder to compensate. And if the television is on or the music is blaring, we can easily shout those down. Historically, my family would do this even when we were in the car on long trips, or especially in those cases, much to my father's annoyance. And then he would raise his voice even more to tell us to be quiet. It's ironical or something...

So I very intentionally have developed these quiet speaking patterns. Not that I don't have the ability to be the loudest one in the room. I often am, especially if I'm laughing at something. And while singing or acting, I can certainly project my voice with ease. However, I have cultivated a persona of self-control and calm in many situations, and keeping my voice low is an aspect of that.

Just call me Mumbly Joe. (Ten points if you know that reference...)