Erin McKean Quotes

You see failed vocabulary in the adult world so often, and it's often because once you reach a certain age you're kind of embarrassed to go look up a word if you don't know what it means.

At home we're the hosts, and I never liked the idea of being embarrassed in front of our friends.

When I need to know the meaning of a word, I look it up in a dictionary.

I was so embarrassed about mispronouncing words. I just knew how to smile.

I know I mispronounce things constantly, because maybe I read more than I talk, but I don't know the proper way to say a lot of things, even though I know what they are. But then I know I look like a moron.

The trouble with the dictionary is that you have to know how a word is spelled before you can look it up to see how it is spelled.

You ask anybody what their number one fear is, and it's public humiliation. Multiply that on a global scale, and that's what I've been through.

I never want to be a showoff or attention getter or something that, truthfully, is kind of repulsive to me, but I get uncomfortable.

I was feeling real good and real manly. Until a real cowboy walked by and told me I had my hat on backwards. So much for my career as a cowboy.

I'm very much in denial that I can't dance. I really go for it, which is almost more embarrassing.

I just really don't like being the center of attention that much. It's kind of ironic.

I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.

As a kid it's adorable to have a gap in your teeth. But then, because of the shifting in my mouth, I started whistling through it, and as a 32-year-old woman, whistling while you speak in sort of annoying.

Today self-consciousness no longer means anything but reflection on the ego as embarrassment, as realization of impotence: knowing that one is nothing.

I feel shy when people are fussing on me.

Being serious just makes me a little bit embarrassed.

People read stuff over your shoulder when you're in public, and when you write the kind of stuff I do, and people read it over your shoulder, it makes you a little self-conscious.

It is the answers, not the questions, that are embarrassing.

My skin still crawls if you call me a movie star. I get embarrassed. I think, don't be ridiculous. Maybe it's because I'm British. To me, Julia Roberts that's a movie star. But when people do call me one, that, I think, is an enormous compliment but, my God, is that a responsibility!

It's always embarrassing when somebody does something praiseworthy of you.

I was so gangly, even sneakers looked awkward. Everybody kind of goes through some phase, and it's hard if you're singled out for anything. But there was this one boy in particular who made fun of me, and - it's funny - then later, when we were 18 or 19, he wanted to go out with me.

People usually want to show me their impression of me, which is always awkward.

I didn't like doing team presentations at races, being introduced as the winner of the Tour. I felt quite embarrassed by it.

Playing the nerd isn't necessarily the most ego-boosting role.

I know a lot about words. I get paid to write stories, so I get to talk with people about the meaning behind words all day.