A paraphrase is not a quotation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an inadequately researched article by Lee-Ann Ragan at Rock Paper Scissors on February 18, 2025 titled The Science of Great Speaking: How to Engage, Persuade, and Inspire. She begins:

 

“Yes, it's true.

There IS research suggesting that people fear public speaking more than death. In a 1973 study by R. H. Bruskin Associates, which surveyed Americans about their fears, public speaking ranked as the number one fear, even above death.

 

This led to the famous quote by comedian Jerry Seinfeld:

 

‘Most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.’

 

Glossophobia (fear of public speaking) is extremely common, affecting up to 77% of people.”

 

First, what she claims Seinfeld said isn’t a real quote – it’s just a paraphrase. An article by Leigh McCullough and Kristin A. R. Osborn in the Journal of Clinical Psychology for 2004 (Volume 60, Number 8. Pages 841 to 852) titled Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Goes to Hollywood: The Treatment of Performance Anxiety in Cinema first got it wrong:

 

“Jerry Seinfeld once joked that at a funeral, ‘most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.’ “

 

At The Sunday Times on September 28, 2014, in an article titled Conquer the fear that dare not publicly speak its name, Paul Cleary got it right:

 

“To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, at a funeral most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.”

 

I most recently blogged about the actual quote on January 21, 2024 in a post titled Ten quotes to motivate speaking in public – five of which are incorrect. What Jerry really said in his TV show, on May 20, 1993 was:

 

“According to most studies, people’s number-one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. ‘Death’ is number two! Now this means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

 

Second, the 77% for fear is wildly overstated. On January 14, 2025 I blogged about how A claim that 77% of the world fears public speaking is just nonsense. I also blogged about it on October 12, 2020 in a post titled Do 77% of Americans fear public speaking? No! That percentage described stage fright in Swedes who also had social anxiety disorder. Only 24% of Swedes had a fear of speaking or performing.  

 

Third, the 1973 Bruskin study described (not just suggested) what more people fear, rather than what people fear more. Way back on October 27, 2009 I blogged about The 14 Worst Human Fears in the 1977 Book of Lists: where did this data really come from? Speaking before a group was feared by 40.6%, while death was feared by 18.7%. And on May 19, 2011 I blogged about another survey two decades later in a post titled America’s Number One Fear: Public Speaking – that 1993 Bruskin-Goldring Survey. That time speaking before a group was feared by 45%, while death was feared by 31%.

 

How about survey results from last year? On October 24, 2024 I blogged about how In the tenth Chapman Survey of American Fears for 2024, public speaking was only ranked #59 of 85 fears at 29.0%. And Dying was #51 at 31.6%, but People I Love Dying was #4 at 57.8%.  

 

The cartoon was adapted from one at Openclipart.