I have now become hyper-aware of how often I use that phrase
Are there any phrases that people have told you you overuse or are characteristic of how you talk?
When I was a teenager our family moved from Northern to Southern California. My mom was a good mom and chill about most things but she really didn't like the change in my speech. We lived in LA and like kids do - I started speaking like the locals. She particularly didn't like my overuse of "like" and how my I turned statements into questions? It seemed I used question marks all time? And I didn't even really realize I - like - used "like" all the time?
At that time she made me kind of mad. But in the end I appreciated it? Oops. Bad habits can come back so quickly.
Language is so interesting. There is no proper way to do it but some people sure do like making it seem that way.
i worked a summer gig at an outdoor camp as sort of a small unit supervisor. basically a department of 1 (me) that occasionally college interns would rotate through. to my credit, they told me by the midpoint that my setup was best because i was "chill". anyway, at the end of the summer, a group of the stoner guys started doing impressions of me, to me, and universally they all included me becoming reservedly annoyed/exasperated at something (like a broken piece of equipment, or some high level boss barking pointless orders sharply before 7am) and muttering "blow me" quietly to myself. or when relating a story and characterizing my own lack of enthusiasm about whatever was happening.
"So then they said, 'The job pays $8 an hour.' and I was like, 'Blow me.'"
they also all imitated my style of speech which involves really exaggerating, slowing the word "blow".
that was over a decade ago so i am pretty sure i've shifted off that consciously, but for a while it was kinda wack how often i would say it. even to myself while reading something annoying. they all thought it was hysterical, but i definitely made some changes.
Say "slide note" instead and pull out a slide whistle and oooOOOOOP with it.
I say "I've probably mentioned this before" a lot because I am always forgetting if I have already told you something.
Unironically people should repeat their anecdotes often. The same story might grow stale for oneself after hearing it a few times, nevertheless repeating an anecdote builds memory of it and can serve as a bonding activity if done well. I wish more anecdotes from my grandparents were written down.
Parenti uses "and the like" a lot in his speech (and texts) and while this could be some kind of recency bias, I believe I see it more often in lemmygrad+hexbear than on the rest of the instances
Everyone has a tick they say a lot.
I tend to to say "You know what I mean?" A lot
Insert piss joke
My problem is what Wikipedia calls semiarticulate utterances: huh, uh, erm, um, hmm, etc. If I ever wanted to do something like a podcast - I'd first prepare by trying to figure out how I can drastically cut down using them. I have no idea how. But I think I might have no choice but to end up with an unfortunately Obama-like way of speaking. What I mean to say... is that the number of pauses... would be noticeable. Still - all things considered... that's better than saying "um" and similar phrases... all the time.
Just editing out the hemming-and-hawing might be tricky. Unfortunately I digress too. "I think it's like a scene in Logan's Run where they meet the old man... mmm... That was a real 1970s movie even though it came out in the 198—... Hmm... It *did come out in 70s. Why did I think 80s? What movie was I thinking of?... erm... Logan's Run but not Logan's Run.... But maybe the old man scene was a different movie altogether?"
I prefer the net. When I tell my Logan's Run story - it's concise, smooth, and I've fixed all the details because I googled if needed. If I did a one-man podcast and I was my own editor I would drive myself crazy.
You got me wondering how fast I could speak coherently if I tried as hard as I could. My hunch is... not very fast at all. So much for my future second career as a cattle auctioneer. : (
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Ninja edit
Maybe I could still be a popular cattle auctioneer by inserting my own random, set phrases into my spiel. It would help me to speak faster and it would be unique to me.
"20,000-ah. Do I hear 20,000-ah? Third Stone From the Sun-ah. Excellent song-ah. Do I— $20,000! Do I hear 30,000-ah?..."
I'm always like "Does that make sense?" after I go on for more than a couple sentences and need verbal affirmation that I'm not being silly/confusing
Honestly, when I space out I tend to say stuff like, "I like cats...".
I use a ton of analogies, so I probably say "that would be like...", "that would be equivalent to...", or "that is analogous to..." a lot.
Sometimes, Bob Dole likes to refer to himself in the third person. It’s not a big deal.
I've noticed my verbal tics change every time I notice them and become aware of how prevailing they are in my speaking.
When I was in school it was "um" and "like".
When I was in college it was sometimes "mmm" but mostly silence because I was trained and practiced enough to consciously avoid any verbal tics.
When I left college I was at my peak and could keep my mouth shut.
Now I've gotten way out of practice and usually do shit like "expletives", "folks", some flavor of "mmm" or "hmm", and a few years ago it was also "side-note" but my coworker kept giving me shit about it so I eventually stopped saying side-note.
A coworker of mine very frequently will say something indirectly then follow his extremely obvious implication with "you see what I'm getting at?" It's so annoying, bro just say what you mean. They're never clever and don't add anything so he's just making things take longer and demanding a response.
Because they want someone to agree with them about something. My coworker does that same thing, especially when it comes to history or politics. Problem is, he doesn't know what he's talking about, and therefore his metaphors and euphamisms confuse me even more because they're straight up wrong or aren't comparable. That leads me to ask him to actually say what he's trying to say, which results in me usually disagreeing and occasionally starting arguments.
Why do you think he does it?
This might be a clue...
he's just making things take longer and demanding a response.
Sometimes unhappy, lonely, or insecure people do that.
