Rants & Raves: Need for speech training

Are front people for TV not given any speech training? Photo / Thinkstock

Tell us what you love about life in NZ - and where there's room for improvement. Write to rantandrave@nzherald.co.nz.

Rant
On a daily basis we hear television presenters using the words "anythink", "somethink", "congradulations", "Wimbleton", "badmington" and many more shocking pronunciations. Are these front people for TV not given any speech training? It doesn't set much of an example for our young people!
Shirley Kittelty

Rave
On Wednesday October 1, an elderly Chinese woman with a shopping trolley got on the Long Bay bus en route to the city. Five teenage girls stood up immediately and offered her their seats.
Denise de Groot

Rant
I'm up from Palmy North and staying on the North Shore and it was a nice day to catch a ferry from Devonport to Waiheke Island. I got to Devonport with 40 minutes to spare before the 11.10am ferry. But try finding a car park to suit the time needed for the trip! How about getting a decent car park building down at the wharf area?
Barry Rolle

Rave
The reliability of Auckland's bus services outside rush hour. I have been working on a fulltime afternoon shift for a year, catching a Go West bus to and from work. This bus service has always got me to and from work on time. Impressive!
Roy Adams

Rant
The western line is last on the list to have the new electric trains, yet while we wait for those, we have to, at times, endure shorter trains at peak hour. Surely if we are last on the list there must be spare carriages from other lines that are no longer being used? I've also noticed we are scrambling the length of the platform to get on trains when the carriages are shorter and from Glen Eden onwards into Britomart it's generally standing room only - not a pleasant way to start the day.
Nova Lawrie

Rave
On September 23, before midday, I submitted electronically my application for the renewal of a non-urgent passport. An auto-reply of the receipt of the application was received immediately. At 2.30pm I received an email to say the application was in order. On September 24, by 9.10am, my passport was delivered to me in Auckland! Better believe it.
Ganesh Dixit