# Verbal filler that are just the worst. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121 "2017-08-30T18:53:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/1 "2017-08-30T18:53:06Z")
We were having a Facebook conversation about how the word “anymore” is misused anymore (see? like that!) and we sort of strayed into verbal fillers that annoy. Um and err are common and most people don’t even notice it if not done excessively. One that seemed to annoy a few was putting “I mean” in front of everything. Or it’s way more annoying cousin “knowwhatimean” behind everything. And, of course, “like”, which is filler plus. It’s not something you add to what you were saying, it changes how you say it. But I had an aunt (still have her. She hasn’t died or anything) who added " 'n shit" to the end of every second or third sentence. Her tale of going to the corner store sounded like this: I was going to Julio’s 'n shit and when I got there I looked in my purse 'n shit and I didn’t have no money. Good thing Julio is cool 'n shit cuz he let me slide. Gotta remember to pay him back next time." P.S. The family teased her out of that. She got tired of us laughing and asking how she lived with the stench of always being ‘in shit’. What verbal filler annoys you? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/2 "2017-08-30T19:00:49Z")
Like, “Like.” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/3 "2017-08-30T19:03:40Z")
I’m not sure anything is worse than “like”, though “I mean” is pretty close and apt to be said by the same type of speaker. I’ve heard guys pepper their speech with “fuckin’” which is annoying on several levels. The instances that I’m thinking of are when it’s not even used as an adverb (?) but just thrown in randomly. “And fuckin’, we were on our way to the monster truck rally and fuckin’ got a fuckin’ flat tire”. Leaving the g off at the end just makes me that much more homicidal. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/4 "2017-08-30T19:28:32Z")
When someone asks me a question, I begin my reply way, way, way, too often with, “Yeah, so…” I know this is pretty common, and also pretty damned annoying. Hard to stop, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/5 "2017-08-30T19:39:38Z")
“to be fair…” is really common in young folks in my region right now (as a meaningless and out of context filler phrase) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/6 "2017-08-30T19:45:09Z")
In my experience, “so” seems to be a favorite word with manager types. Ask them a question during a meeting at work, and they will start off with: “Sssooo…” As they are saying the “so” part, you can see the gears in their head spinning trying to come up with a bull shit answer. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/7 "2017-08-30T19:50:59Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > When someone asks me a question, I begin my reply way, way, way, too often with, “Yeah, so…” I know this is pretty common, and also pretty damned annoying. Hard to stop, though. That doesn’t bother me (yet) when someone says it in person but I find it really grating when I hear it on tv or the radio, such as in an interview. It wouldn’t be so bad if the person only used it once and it was sort of a segue that says" you’re correct and this is the explanation". To just start every dialogue with it is very clunky. And now that I realize I just typed “sort of” it reminds that many Brits use that one a lot. It’s pretty hard for me to dislike the sound of an Englishman (or woman) talking but if anything can it’s overuse of “sort of”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/8 "2017-08-30T20:17:37Z")
The only one that sometimes slightly gets to me is “ya know.” A couple here and there are fine, but continual use of it irks me a little. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/9 "2017-08-30T20:23:31Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I’ve heard guys pepper their speech with “fuckin’” which is annoying on several levels. The instances that I’m thinking of are when it’s not even used as an adverb (?) but just thrown in randomly. “And fuckin’, we were on our way to the monster truck rally and fuckin’ got a fuckin’ flat tire”. Leaving the g off at the end just makes me that much more homicidal. I worked with a guy like that. One time he used the word “fuckin’” six times in a single sentence. I told him he might have set a record. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/10 "2017-08-30T20:37:22Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > When someone asks me a question, I begin my reply way, way, way, too often with, “Yeah, so…” I know this is pretty common, and also pretty damned annoying. Hard to stop, though. This happens _all the time_ on Shark Tank. No matter what the sharks ask, the entrieneanrpauurueeererrs (spelling may be incorrect) always say, “Okay, so…”. I always wonder if they’re coached to respond that way or if it’s just a manager type thing, as **Grrr!** says. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/11 "2017-08-30T20:37:45Z")
We went on a neighborhood historic tour some time back. The guide ended every sentence with “. . .and stuff like that.” My wife wouldn’t let me ask him “What sort of stuff would that be?” “Like” makes be homicidal, as does “I know, right?” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/12 "2017-08-30T20:43:24Z")
Was his name Neal Page (Steve Martin)? Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/13 "2017-08-30T20:49:01Z")
I used to game with a guy who started every sentence with “Basically, …” He was the GM, so I couldn’t throw dice at him. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/14 "2017-08-30T20:51:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Was his name Neal Page (Steve Martin)? > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk That was in response to Little Nemo, BTW. Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/15 "2017-08-30T20:55:45Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Like, “Like.” This one drives me insane. My ex-wife picked it up somewhere in the last few years of our marriage, so the majority of every day became hearing it every third word. I’m at the point now where I just start counting Likes the first time I hear someone use it. It’s never one or two. Thirty-seven, thirty-eight… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/16 "2017-08-30T21:04:02Z")
For some reason my dad has always started conversations with my nieces with “Guess what…” Ever since they’ve started talking, the girls start every conversation, or sometimes every sentence with “Guess what…” They’re now 5 and 7. I always tell them “Tell me, don’t ask me” but they don’t even realize what the problem is because my dad does it. It doesn’t sound weird or wrong to them. Kid: Hey guess what! Me: _blink_ Kid: My teacher gave out stickers today! Me: Cool! Kid: And guess what! Me: _blink_ Kid: I got a purple one! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/17 "2017-08-30T21:42:33Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > One that seemed to annoy a few was putting “I mean” in front of everything. Or it’s way more annoying cousin “knowwhatimean” behind everything. And, of course, “like”, which is filler plus. It’s not something you add to what you were saying, it changes how you say it. The “knowwhatimean” thing is really, really annoying and one that is genuinely purposeless, a really useless annoying verbal tic. “Like” is quite a bit different, though, because it actually serves a purpose, as you seem to imply in your last sentence there. Whether its usage is “acceptable” obviously depends on the formality of the context in which it’s used, but in informal registers it’s not something I rail about as I do about some other usages. The linguist John McWhorter has a lot to say about it in his latest book, _Words on the Move: Why English Won’t – and Can’t – Sit Still (Like, Literally)_, which I will say right now makes a lot of claims that I vehemently disagree with, but does contain some good ideas amid a lot of fluff and nonsense including the idea that emoticons are now a legitimate part of the English language. McWhorter had this to day about “like” in an article in the _Atlantic_ excerpted from his book: … what has happened to _like_ is that it has morphed into a modal marker—actually, one that functions as a protean indicator of the human mind at work in conversation. There are actually two modal marker _likes_—that is, to be fluent in modern American English is to have subconsciously internalized not one but two instances of grammar involving _like_. > **[The Linguistic Evolution of 'Like'](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/the-evolution-of-like/507614/)** > > How the ubiquitous, often-reviled word associated with young people and slackers represents the ever-changing English language Actually he ends up arguing that there are three variants – the reinforcing “like” (“there was, like, water everywhere”), the hedging “like” that softens the blow of something unwelcome (“this is, like, the only way to handle this”), and the quotative “like” (“so they were all like, what do you guys want to do tonight?”) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/18 "2017-08-30T21:56:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I worked with a guy like that. One time he used the word “fuckin’” six times in a single sentence. I told him he might have set a record. Not even fuckin’ close. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/19 "2017-08-30T21:59:32Z")
Am I the only one who isn’t bothered by verbal filler in general? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/20 "2017-08-30T22:04:07Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I used to game with a guy who started every sentence with “Basically, …” > > He was the GM, so I couldn’t throw dice at him. I was in a training class some years back and the instructor was excessively fond of \*basically \*and _essentially_. It was so distracting, I found myself keeping count, totally losing any of the knowledge he was supposed to be sharing with us. It’s been long enough that I don’t recall the actual numbers, but over three hours, he used both words hundreds of times. Had I been paying for the class, I’d have been really pissed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121.md?page=2)