Why do almost all athletes use the phrase “you know” in every interview? I understand it’s a nervous response, but where did we learn “you know” to substitute for uncomfortable silence?
I don’t know, but I find it to be torture to listen to interviews because of it. I usually turn the sound off. Virtually everybody has some annoying verbal tic or affectation, that’s simply the one most commonly heard.
For the same reason anyone who isn’t a skilled public speaker will interject “uh” and “you know” and “er” and “um.” Because that’s what people do; English speakers don’t like silence, and want to fill the air, and if they are unskilled at planning out their comments they’ll use filler words.
I’d rather have the “You know,” than “You know what I’m saying.”
I’m a Phillies fan, and whenever Cole Hamels does an interview I try to count the number of times he says it. I believe I once counted around 20 during an interview that didn’t last much more than a minute. He’s gotten a little bit better with it the last couple of years, but still says it quite a lot.
Another Phillie, Domonic Brown, seems to start pretty much every answer with “Aw, man”
Athletes and coaches always speak in clichés. If you have the mindset to do well in sports, that’s how you express yourself - in simple, direct, more-or-less factual terms, with the language of toughness and positivity.
It’s not just English speakers. Every language has its share of “white noise” filler words and expressions, some more irritating than others. And sports players across the world have demonstrated their mastery of them.
My own pet peeve in French is “au niveau de/du” (“on/at the X level”) - you’ll hear coaches and players saying things like “Well, on the defence level our guys didn’t really succeed on the ball handling level nor took advantage of their skills at the field control level, so that’s why you saw such a lopsided result on the scoring level”. SHUT UUUUP learn to speak au niveau du français !