In an economic climate forcing thousands of desperate families to auction off pretty much everything they own, including family heirlooms, just to pay their bills, it’s easy to forget that auctions are generally fun and exciting. What is it about an auction that so completely captures the imagination of everyone involved? Inside the booming auction business.
“Fowty-now-fowtyfibe-now-fibe-wiyagimme-fowtyfibe-now-fifty!”
No it’s not a foreign language though if you’re unaccustomed to it you might think you just fell through the looking glass. But even the White Rabbit didn’t speak this fast. What you’re hearing is the famous auction chant that machine-gun rapid-fire combination of numbers and words that keep buyers interested and on their toes and keeps a live auction rolling along as smoothly as its auctioneer.
“Who’ll give me a hundred dollars? One hundred dollar bid now two now two will ya give me two? Two hundred dollar bid now three now three hundred will ya give me three? Two hundred two and a half two-fifty How about two-fifty? Fifty? Fifty? Fifty? I got it! How about two-sixty? Sixty? Sixty? I’ve got two-sixty now seventy? How about seventy? Two-seventy?”
Although the most widely recognized talent of auctioneers is undoubtedly their ability to talk rapidly in a nonstop wave of words they have to be expert communicators too. If prospective buyers cannot understand what the auctioneer is saying his chanting speed is moot.
“One dollar bid now two now two now two will you give me two? Two dollar bid now three now three now three will you give me three? Three dollar bid now four now four now four will you give me four?”
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