Again an article which was brought to my attention via twitter. You gotta like that place for the discovery of cool articles and other goodies.
This time it’s another language related article which I think you will especially like if you’ve been told (like me) that you shouldn’t use too many fillers when talking. Fillers? Yes, you know, like, fillers, which like, sorta, fill your sentence, actually. THOSE THINGS!
Verbal fillers or tics are the guilty pleasures of the communication world – all those useless, fatuous repetitive pieces of nonsense that we belch out the moment there is the slightest pause or hesitation in our stream of speech. Sometimes we start with them, often we end with them. Occasionally we use them instead of speech altogether, as in ‘Right, okay, well, basically, you know, I sort of, actually, kind of – if you like…innit?’
These words come courtesy of your subconscious during micro-moments of panic and to fill gaps to show that you believe it’s still your turn to talk, and it could be that you sprinkle them throughout your conversations like confetti. Okay so you mimic them from others, but why did you choose the particular words you use so constantly? Think your choice was random? Think again…
Fillers listed in the article:
- right
- you know
- actually
- literally
- basically
- innit?
- ya mean
- sort of/ kind of
- if you like
- do you hear what I’m saying?