According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy. Jerry Seinfeld

This quotation appears around the Internet in many slight variations. I have heard it quoted and misquoted by new Toastmasters more times than I can count, never mind all the public speaking articles and websites it appears in, each one thinking they’ve stumbled across something novel and unique.

The problem is more than this simply being a cliché. It’s not terribly accurate. What do we mean when we say that people fear public speaking “more” than death? That given the choice, people would rather be put to death than give a speech? That seems unlikely.

Although I have not seen the original source myself, the consensus seems to be that Seinfeld’s joke was based on a study from the 1977 “Book of Lists.” Here is the actual content, as per the discussion on the toastmastersforum.com.

The 14 Worst Human Fears

“What are you most afraid of?” a team of market researchers asked 3000

U.S. inhabitants. Many named more than one fear. The results may

surprise you.] Biggest Fear % naming 1 Speaking before a group 41

2 Heights 32

3 Insects and bugs 22

3 Financial Problems 22

3 Deep water 22

6 Sickness 19

6 Death 19

8 Flying 18

9 Loneliness 14

10 Dogs 11

11 Driving/riding in a car 9

12 Darkness 8

12 Elevators 8

14 Escalators 5

This is a completely different matter from how the quote is usually used. People simply were asked for some fears off the top of their head, and more of them happened to mention public speaking than death. This would seem to imply that it’s something that’s more presently pressing on people’s minds; someone may be fretting about the presentation they have to give at work next week, but they may not really think about death until something happens to remind them of mortality.

In other words, people may actively be fearing public speaking more frequently than they actively fear death, but their fear of public speaking is certainly not stronger than their fear of death.

If you’re giving one of your first speeches, remember–don’t apologize, don’t state how nervous you are and don’t include irrelevant material (such as a quotation about fear of public speaking). If you’re a more experienced speaker trying to make a point about how people need to learn public speaking skills, then a personal story will be more powerful than this quotation.