Why do auctioneers talk so fast?

[SnicklefritzG]

I just watched a replay of auction video for Havre De Grace. It popped up for some reason on my youtube feed so I watched it.

What a beautiful mare.

Anyway, I wonder why do the auctioneers talk so fast? Honestly a lot of what the guy was saying in that video sounded like mumbo-jumbo. The only understandable thing were the numbers he would throw out periodically. I figure the fast pace gets people excited and more inclined to bid, but can’t they talk fast and make sense at the same time? If you slowed their speech down would they actually be saying something?

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;8139419]
I just watched a replay of auction video for Havre De Grace. It popped up for some reason on my youtube feed so I watched it.

What a beautiful mare.

Anyway, I wonder why do the auctioneers talk so fast? Honestly a lot of what the guy was saying in that video sounded like mumbo-jumbo. The only understandable thing were the numbers he would throw out periodically. I figure the fast pace gets people excited and more inclined to bid, but can’t they talk fast and make sense at the same time? If you slowed their speech down would they actually be saying something?[/QUOTE]

I’ve never understood why either, but have assumed that it is to keep the bidders so confused no one is sure where the bid stands or how much “out pocket” they’ve committed themselves to. And then there is the secret signals that our sent by bidders to the callers. You never know whether a bidder who is scratching his butt is actually raising the bid or checking for hemeroids. Lord knows how high a bid could get for those who didn’t pack their Preparation H.:eek:

Having been to other auctions, outside horses, the majority of auctioneers speak in clearly coherent voices and you get placards to identify yourself as a bidder.

[danceronice]

It’s to kind of lull people into a rhythm. If you learn to listen to the chant you can follow it pretty easily (they’re calling FOR a bid so the number you’re hearing is the ask). And even if you don’t see a bidder number, the callers know who’s bidding and who isn’t. There are very rarely accidental bids. The one type of auction I’ve been to that doesn’t (always; they can) use a rapid-fire chant is estate and art kind of sales. The BIGGEST houses for fine art use the quiet call (Christies, Sothbey’s, etc) but they’re trying to cultivate a very different atmosphere–there they aren’t trying to lull you into not thinking, they’re creating the “if you have to think about it you don’t belong here” atmosphere. They don’t NEED to lure you into bidding another $50k, of course you have it and will bid it, what else would you do, you do of course want this Picasso…same idea, different tactics. They also often have less spontaneous events and need to hustle than livestock auctions. There’s no risk that the longer the Picasso sits on the podium the more likely it is to do something to decrease its value and the bidders are in a comfy climate-controlled room (I paid $95 for my goat because he was the last one through at the end of a long, hot, summer afternoon, I got my ducks for the lowest price for ducks that day because the duck escaped and showed badly).

Also if you go to an estate sale, they may patter-sell, they may not, and you do get a number, but you won’t always see it. And one thing the auctioneer and callers will figure out fast (or know already) at those kind of sales is which bidders are just buying stuff and which are dealers (we bid on particular items and we start dropping out as the bid approaches retail value.) With racehorse auctions the auctioneers and callers know the bidders, they know the agents, they know who they can push. And at ANY auction, almost always, the auctioneer has a pretty good idea what fair-market for the horse/item is and unless they get a crazy run they know when it’s time to start slowing down and asking for last-chance bids.

[PeteyPie]

I think it is solely for the purpose of establishing an exciting atmosphere, where buyers get caught up in the emotion and really get into it. Not all auctioneers do it. In my opinion, it works.

Emotion sells.

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=PeteyPie;8139606]
I think it is solely for the purpose of establishing an exciting atmosphere, where buyers get caught up in the emotion and really get into it. Not all auctioneers do it. In my opinion, it works.

Emotion sells.[/QUOTE]

If you get sucked into the chant, you’re not thinking about how much money you’re spending. That’s the ultimate goal of every auctioneer (and also why at auctions were stuff IS going to go for huge prices you don’t have accidents-you can’t just walk up and get a number, you have to be preapproved and in some cases have a credit check.)

[RPM]

According to this, it’s an American thing:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/11/why_do_auctioneers_talk_like_that.html

And this is from one of my favorite English novels:

“He said he’d just looked in at a sale to see if his wife was there, as she had said she might be, about that time, and he couldn’t see her, but he did see that the auctioneer was that Pigram fellow whom he’d met at golf, so he nodded to him as one does, and before he could say honorificabiliitudinity he found he’d bought seventeen stags’ heads heads which had just that minute been knocked down to him at fourteen and six.” (Monica Edwards, The Midnight Horse, p. 46)

[SnicklefritzG]

I had a good chuckle reading some of the responses. I guess it is true. You kind of get lulled into some strange state from listening to the auctioneer’s chant.

"million five, million five, bbdbbdbbgbdbbgb, million five, million five, bbbbdbdbdbbwbwbbdbbds, two million, now two, bebeebbdbbdbgbdbgbdb, two million five, two million five, bebbebbbebgbbbdbbbbeg… " and so on.

:lol:

[beau159]

Why do auctioneers talk so fast?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/11/why_do_auctioneers_talk_like_that.html

[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;8139419]

Anyway, I wonder why do the auctioneers talk so fast? Honestly a lot of what the guy was saying in that video sounded like mumbo-jumbo. The only understandable thing were the numbers he would throw out periodically. I figure the fast pace gets people excited and more inclined to bid, but can’t they talk fast and make sense at the same time? If you slowed their speech down would they actually be saying something?[/QUOTE]

Maybe it’s just such a “normal” part of going to an auction for me, but I’ve never had trouble understanding where the bid is at.

Yes, they are saying words, not just sounds. For example: “One dollar bid, now two, now two, will ya’ give me two? Two dollar bid, now three, now three, will ya’ give me three?” Two seventy-five? Two and a quarter? Each auctioneer will have their own filler words that they use between the numbers, but they are words.

In a “cycle” type of speech, they are saying what the bid is currently and what the next bid will need to be to raise it. If no one is chomping on the next bid, then they may change the next bid to half that.

[LaurieB]

@PeteyPie;8139606

I think it is solely for the purpose of establishing an exciting atmosphere, where buyers get caught up in the emotion and really get into it. Not all auctioneers do it. In my opinion, it works.

I agree. I think it’s meant to add to the excitement of the buy.

It certainly isn’t meant to confuse people because confused bidding doesn’t help anyone–when that happens and unintended bids are made the auctioneers have to back down in price and that’s a pain.

After you listen to the auctioneers for a bit, they become very easy to understand. You can also begin to pick up on a lot of their signals. Some, like Chris Caldwell, who works for Keeneland, are incredibly entertaining to listen to. Along with taking bids, he’s cracking jokes about the bid-spotters, evaluating the horse in the ring, keeping an eye on the floor, and ribbing half the bidders. The good auctioneers have to be really quick-witted.

[SnicklefritzG]

[QUOTE=LaurieB;8139798]
I agree. I think it’s meant to add to the excitement of the buy.

It certainly isn’t meant to confuse people because confused bidding doesn’t help anyone–when that happens and unintended bids are made the auctioneers have to back down in price and that’s a pain.

After you listen to the auctioneers for a bit, they become very easy to understand. You can also begin to pick up on a lot of their signals. Some, like Chris Caldwell, who works for Keeneland, are incredibly entertaining to listen to. Along with taking bids, he’s cracking jokes about the bid-spotters, evaluating the horse in the ring, keeping an eye on the floor, and ribbing half the bidders. The good auctioneers have to be really quick-witted.[/QUOTE]

They better provide some entertainment if you’re spending 7 figures!!

[LaurieB]

[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;8139823]
They better provide some entertainment if you’re spending 7 figures!![/QUOTE]

Actually the hope is more that they’re selling a good horse.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=danceronice;8139615]
That’s the ultimate goal of every auctioneer (and also why at auctions were stuff IS going to go for huge prices you don’t have accidents-you can’t just walk up and get a number, you have to be preapproved and in some cases have a credit check.)[/QUOTE]

My long time favorite Saddlebred auction, TSE at Tattersalls didn’t even require a bidder number. Anyone could walk in off the street, raise their hand, sign the bill of sale and walk back out. I used to work for a guy once who called me up and said “can you be at the barn Friday night? I walked into Tattersalls for the air conditioning and bought a horse…”

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;8139823]
They better provide some entertainment if you’re spending 7 figures!![/QUOTE]

There is great story about Cot Campbell of Dogwood Stable. He entered the auction and immediately noticed a nice looking colt being presented that he hadn’t researched. Taking a gamble, he began to bid and after the price had reached several tens of thousands $$$, he finally purchased this “errant premonition” of a colt.

Immediately after he had signed the sale ticket, his wife Anne (an astute horsewoman in her right) approached and said, “I see you bought a twin.” :eek:

Moral to the story is know what you are bidding on and listen to the preliminary introductions of each horse.

[gumtree]

It’s “carryover” from tobacco auctions. The oldest and second oldest TB auction companies, Fasig Tipton and then Keeneland have used Tobacco auctioneers for decades. Though I would bet when Fasig sold horses at the old Madison Square Garden in early part of the last century they used “locals”.

When I first went to Tatts in Newmarket it was quite a change to what I was used to. Painfully slow, and boring. Though that has changed with time to somewhat more of an “American style”. One of their head auctioneers John O’Kelly interned with Fasig and he “picked up” on the “American style” and exported it back to the old country.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=gumtree;8140128]
It’s “carryover” from tobacco auctions. The oldest and second oldest TB auction companies, Fasig Tipton and then Keeneland have used Tobacco auctioneers for decades. Though I would bet when Fasig sold horses at the old Madison Square Garden in early part of the last century they used “locals”.

When I first went to Tatts in Newmarket it was quite a change to what I was used to. Painfully slow, and boring. Though that has changed with time to somewhat more of an “American style”. One of their head auctioneers John O’Kelly interned with Fasig and he “picked up” on the “American style” and exported it back to the old country.[/QUOTE]

My family is originally from the Richmond, VA area and I remember the rows and rows of tobacco warehouses that resided along the James River because all the major cigarette companies were located there. Although I remember the auctions, as my grandfather had a tobacco alotement, I didn’t make the connection until you posted. The sales were frenzied events with lots of buyers. The auctioneers had the same chant as horse auctions. Can’t be sure, and I’m just guessing but the quick chant was probably because the sales were walk through. The warehouses were enormous and it probably sped up the auction as the participants walked through several of these long buildings filled with tobacco bales and pallets topped off with cured leaves. I think the bales were called something else. Can’t remember. There use to be a B/W TV commercial back then for one of the cigarette brands that used videos of the auction for advertisements. Thanks for the memories although this reminds me I’m getting a little long in the tooth to put it in horse terms.

My grandfather and my father were smokers. Neither died from it, but we now know they were the lucky ones. Now its chewing tobacco, snuff, and electronic cigarettes.

Kinda like the saying someone has posted on COTH, we spend 11 months (for human 9 months) to bring a foal (child) healthy into the world, and they spend the rest of their lives trying to kill themselves.

[SnicklefritzG]

So is the stuff between the numbers real words? Or gibberish?
When you listen to the auctions and it soudns like they are saying “bbbeeebbggebbrbsbbr” would it mean anything if the speech were slowed down? Or is it just fluff ?

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=SnicklefritzG;8140222]
So is the stuff between the numbers real words? Or gibberish?
When you listen to the auctions and it soudns like they are saying “bbbeeebbggebbrbsbbr” would it mean anything if the speech were slowed down? Or is it just fluff ?[/QUOTE]

Really not sure. I’m normally out of the bidding when the auctioneer starts the bid. The concept of seven figures is loss to me at .5 figures.

[Linny]

It is real words, to an extent. It’s a chant, certainly but is you listen a bit you start to get the rhythms.

"I got 40, 40, will ya gimme 50. 50? Who got 50, 50? Whooooooooo,giiiiiiiiiimeeeeee, 50, 50? Jerry gave me 40, 40, how 'bout forty FIVE?! FORTY FIVE??? HHHHHhhhhmmmm, lets get 45 for this colt, whoooooo got forty fiiiiiiiiiive?

[Sunflower]

I wonder if there is any relation between the “market calling” that used to be part of the open-air outdoor markets in “market towns” in England, etc. Some of those markets still exist, and in some, so does the tradition of sellers calling out about their goods. Supposedly each seller used to develop a distinctive call to lure buyers to their stall. Sometimes market calling and auctioneer rapid fire talking sound similar to me.

[FRM]

The English style can be very slow to those of us used to the faster American style but I have seen some of the best and most dramatic sales at Tattersalls, especially by an Irish auctioneer back in the 80’s - I think it was Alistair Pym. You could hear a pin drop while he worked the bidders to squeeze every last bit out of them. Great entertainment!