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One of the many things that irritate me (and my wife says it doesn’t take much to irritate me) is the banal and meaningless words some folk often insert into their conversations. It is particularly irritating when listening to interviews on the radio or the television.
I was listening on the radio recently to someone who inserted into every sentence the words ‘you know’ and ‘I mean’ and 'like'. They occurred during pauses and I assume they subconsciously filled the gaps while the person concerned thought about what she was going to say next. And, again this morning, listening to someone being interviewed during a television news item, the same words seemed to fill the gaps while the interviewer was either drawing breath or wondering what he was going to say next. He was also pausing and inserting those gaps with ‘er’.
It’s a bit like the boil on the end of someone’s nose that you’ve never noticed until someone else points it out to you. Once you notice these meaningless words inserted into conversations and interviews, you began to notice them all the time.
And now ... you know ... the chances are ... er ... you will ... I mean ... notice them ... like ... all the time ... er ... yourselves!
.
One of the many things that irritate me (and my wife says it doesn’t take much to irritate me) is the banal and meaningless words some folk often insert into their conversations. It is particularly irritating when listening to interviews on the radio or the television.
I was listening on the radio recently to someone who inserted into every sentence the words ‘you know’ and ‘I mean’ and 'like'. They occurred during pauses and I assume they subconsciously filled the gaps while the person concerned thought about what she was going to say next. And, again this morning, listening to someone being interviewed during a television news item, the same words seemed to fill the gaps while the interviewer was either drawing breath or wondering what he was going to say next. He was also pausing and inserting those gaps with ‘er’.
It’s a bit like the boil on the end of someone’s nose that you’ve never noticed until someone else points it out to you. Once you notice these meaningless words inserted into conversations and interviews, you began to notice them all the time.
And now ... you know ... the chances are ... er ... you will ... I mean ... notice them ... like ... all the time ... er ... yourselves!
.
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