Um, Like, Irregardless...
There are certain things that I hear in public speaking and casual conversation that drives me nuts. I can understand how someone gathering their thoughts and putting them into a phrase can occasionally pause and use an “Um” as a place holder or resistance to a dead air moment. However if every sentence is punctuated with “Um,” you may need speech therapy.
Next is the word “Like” which seems to be a phase that teens go through and somehow grow out of when they reach maturity. The over use of the word “Like” can sometimes sound like a Tourettes Syndrome tick
Finally, I can’t stand it when people make up words or redefine them to fit their purpose when speaking. There is a local fellow that gets interviewed on local radio show and never fails to slip in the word “Irregardless.” It’s like nails on a black board to me.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
17 Comments:
My Mom used to have this habit of inserting a sigh or a ahem when ever no one was talking. It's like she just had to fill every silent moment. It would drive me crazy.
Irregardless is on my top 5. Adding to "unique" also - "more unique." How can something be "more unique?" Giving more than 100% - it's not possible. I have a phone meeting frequently with an outside consultant who punctuates his speech, with "Ahhh, ya know..."
what about "totally"? can you roll with "totally" or does that make you ears bleed?
btw? "fine and mellow" by billie holiday is on the radio. what do you think about THAT mr. music pants?
youR ears bleed. YOUR. more coffee please.
My pet peeve, and one I often see in blogs, is people saying "anyhoo". It isn't funny, folks. It's been way overdone.
here is another one that confuses me..... a substance can be addictive? but is another word for that also referred to as 'addicting'?
People use that last one all the time and it throws me off. Help, someone.
That and 'simular" for things that are similar.
and of course the ever popular nuclear vs. 'nucular'
"You know" is my shisbands speech tic. The more nervous our excited he gets the more "You knows" pop out.
A friend of ours is a horrid public speaker who is unfortunately called on to speak several times a year. He mumbles, talks down to his shoes, worse throws in "and so forth and so on" when he realizes he's taking forever, but doesn't speed up or finish. After the third or fourth "and so forth and so on" people are trying to crawl under their chairs to escape.
Oh, God, don’t get me started... I cringe when I hear the word “recognize” pronounced “reconize.”
And now I’m wondering about a certain Canadian expression.
Got any thoughts on that one, eh?
my new word is "Levelset" - to inform.
Unfortunately, I get to listen to the inmates talk alot at work. I'm going to campaign for soundproof cells. They use alot of "And hey" and "Y'hear me?" I used to think they just did that when screaming from cell to cell. Turns out they use it just as frequently out on the yard. Thirty seconds of conversation and fifteen "y'hear me"s and I want to start hitting someone.
My husband actually said 'conversating' I was like 'what? dude...I know English is your second language and all but wth?'
(He learned English in Kinder, so no excuses for his bad grammar! gyahhh...)
Tango, does she still do it?
Lori, having met you I would hate to displease you linguistically.
Irish, I totally dig that!
Donna, I've been meaning to compliment on how well your blog is written.
Auntie, is it pronounced Awn-t or An-t?
Anon, "shisbands?" What is that?
Beth, I like "Eh?" It makes me somewhat home sick, just like when I hear some Jerseyeese.
g, you'll have to do a lot of levelsetting if you get the bid to build a Walmart here. Levelset me on all the family businesses that they will eat up.
Darev, you work in the Tower of Babble as far as language goes.
Any, do you correct him? He can still learn.
The Boy and I often refer to things as "undisirregardless." I took an entire college course in Latin prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms, and people who put two negative Latin prefixes together like "dis-" and "ir-" drive me crazy! Something can't be both "un-" and "anti-" at the same time. Just want to smack those people, I swear.
As far as I can tell she has stopped, but then again, we have a lot to talk about when we see each other. Not much silence to fill up.
Jaggy, I really like undisirregardless. I'll have to start using that and see if it goes anywhere.
Tango, you should do it to her, maybe she'll start up again.
The queen of "Um"......"Um"......."Um"...One of our County Attorneys.
She really needs to stop that especially somebody in her position and income level.
Having never been to court here I don't know which you are talking about, but I'm sure that could turn off a jury really fast.
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