# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/61 "2017-08-31T19:34:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > _makes a note not to hang up with kayaker as she doesn’t want to irritate him_ Can I get a pass if it’s cultural? In Spain not making those “I hear you” noises would be considered to indicate a lack of attention. We clap in the middle of concerts too. 😃 I would love to hang out with you, if only to practice my horrendous Spanish. I clap (or “Woooooohooo”) in the middle of a concert to recognize a tremendous solo. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/62 "2017-08-31T23:41:56Z")
I think the person who does this the most, in my experience, is the England soccer football player Wayne Rooney. His verbal filler is the word “[erm](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/erm)”. > [@](#): > > erm > > \*\*Interjection > > erm\*\* > > 1. \*(Britain) Used in hesitant speech, or to express uncertainty; um, umm. > > She was going to, erm… the salon, I think.\* > > 1. \*(Britain) Used to express embarrassment or subtle disagreement. > > Erm, I don’t think that was supposed to happen. > > - Bob would never say something like that! > - Erm, he just did.\* Whenever I hear him speak, I always find myself more preoccupied with counting the “erms” than listening to what he has to say. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1EUFT-NBH4&feature=youtu.be&t=5) an illustrative compilation video. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/63 "2017-08-31T23:58:18Z")
He’s standing there doing whatever. There is no indication that the subject is actually standing. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/64 "2017-08-31T23:59:38Z")
Where is our upper Mid-west contingent with their "Donchaknow"s? ---
**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:** [September 1, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/65 "2017-09-01T00:02:52Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Where is our upper Mid-west contingent with their "Donchaknow"s? So Fargo was correct, eh? SWIDT? Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/66 "2017-09-01T00:03:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Similarly (tangentially?) I cannot stand a listener who cannot listen with their fucking mouth shut. > > As part of my job, I’ll be explaining something to a client. Maybe six or eight sentences, all told. There is _no need_ for a response until I’ve completed my soliloquy, yet they are saying, “ah huh” or “oh, yes” or “hmmmmmm” every few seconds, all the time nodding and making affirming facial expressions. > > Seriously dude? I’ll entertain any and all questions after I’ve had my say, but no, you have to go fucking with my mojo. > > /tangential rant #pet-peeve I used to work occasionally with a judge who had the habit of saying, “Mmmm hmmm, mmm hmmmm, mmmm hmmmm,” to whomever was presenting their argument to her. It was obviously a tic and she was completely unaware of it, but the habit always caught the lawyers by surprise. I found it amusing to watch them start their argument in a measured manner, then become more and more bewildered and animated as the judge did her, “Mmmm hmmm, mmm hmmmm, mmmm hmmmm,” thing. They’d pick up the pace quite smartly until the court reporter could hardly keep up with how fast they were talking. Our calendars sure went quick! 😃 In answer to the OP, my current teeth-gritter is, “seriously?” Even worse when combined with other usual flabby fillers such as, “Like, really, I mean, seriously?” Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/67 "2017-09-01T00:04:19Z")
My (rather minor) pet peeve is the use of the phrase “No, really!” (with or without the comma, in writing) in the rather paradoxical sense meaning “Yes, really!”, that is, to emphatically affirm some surprising assertion. Why? As best I can tell, it’s an abbreviation of “No, I’m not kidding! Really!” or similar. I searched for examples right from these boards. To my surprise, Google found two full pages of cites containing this phrase in the thread title. (Upon examining these threads, the phrase occurs ONLY in the thread title and not elsewhere in the thread.) [Shakespeare… no, really, Shakespeare. (sexist?)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=272431) [Missing Woman Found in Hotel Mattress. No, Really.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=556330) [No, Really - Why is U.S. Healthcare So Expensive?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb//showthread.php?t=807164) [tv show idea (no really!)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271173) [No, Really - Why is U.S. Healthcare So Expensive?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=807164) [Scary washing machine. No really, it’s terrifying!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=521185) [No, really, how much force to break a clavicle?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=785713) [Can dogs be retarded? (no really?)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=12474) [A critical appraisal of Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, Really…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=208988) The second page of cites had eight more like these. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/68 "2017-09-01T11:35:10Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’m not sure this fits the thread exactly, but I needed to complain about it anyway. I place a lot of orders by phone, and the other day I spoke to a young man who needed to make continuous noises while he was entering my information, I guess to make sure I knew he hadn’t gone away. “Okay, let me pull up your account…ch ch ch ch ch ch…there, now what’s your phone number? Ch ch ch ch ch ch ch, okay got it…” It was _painful_. I know exactly what you mean. Also, I know a woman who cannot stop saying “or something like that” at the end of a sentence. She is currently pregnant and, when asked if she knows the sex, responded with “It’s a girl, or something like that”. \* \*to be fair, English is her second language mmm ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/69 "2017-09-01T15:21:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Similarly (tangentially?) I cannot stand a listener who cannot listen with their fucking mouth shut. > > As part of my job, I’ll be explaining something to a client. Maybe six or eight sentences, all told. There is _no need_ for a response until I’ve completed my soliloquy, yet they are saying, “ah huh” or “oh, yes” or “hmmmmmm” every few seconds, all the time nodding and making affirming facial expressions. > > Seriously dude? I’ll entertain any and all questions after I’ve had my say, but no, you have to go fucking with my mojo. > > /tangential rant #pet-peeve They teach that shit in salesman school. Actively demonstrate to the other person that you’re paying attention and that you _care_. Deeply. Yeah sure you do. Pisses me right off too. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > “Can I ask you a question?” > > a) You just did; > > b) Now it’s going to be TWO questions. “Can I ask you a question?” You just did and the answer is yes. Second questions cost 50 cents. \ 😃 > [@gigi](#): > > Yes, I had a co-worker who did this. It immediately takes away the impact of what you are saying, esp. if you say “No, I was just going to say…” I sometimes use “I was going to say …”. What I’m indicating is that I’d already assembled my little presentation before you called on me. So I’m not so much responding to whatever you just said moments ago as I am offering my more complete, thoughtful comments that I’ve lovingly assembled since the last time I said something. IOW, it means: “I see your silly intro and raise you a well thought-out detailed response.” Which of course \*really \*means: “I’m a tiresome windbag paying no attention to anything but the sound of my own voice in my head. Which I’ll now subject you to out loud.” Hmm. Maybe I should stop saying that. 🙂 > [@gigi](#): > > … > I realized another one I do: “As far as I know, …”, “as far as I understand it, …” or “to the best of my knowledge, …”. It’s because everything is decentralized around here and communication sucks so who knows, things may have changed since I last heard about it! Thank you, _thank you_, _ **thank you** _. Nothing lights my fire more in the office than people who can’t comprehend the difference between a verified current fact, a prior fact that might still be true, and an expectation of a fact that may or may not be happening. **LSLGuy** : Is the TPS Report done? **Clueless worker** : Yes. (actually meaning “I have no idea, but if all is going perfectly today it might be done now. Or maybe later.” **LSLGuy** : \. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/70 "2017-09-01T15:28:34Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > My (rather minor) pet peeve is the use of the phrase “No, really!” (with or without the comma, in writing) in the rather paradoxical sense meaning “Yes, really!”, that is, to emphatically affirm some surprising assertion. Why? As best I can tell, it’s an abbreviation of “No, I’m not kidding! Really!” or similar. > … Yup. It’s anticipating and answering the audience objection that the first part isn’t true. IOW “No; your objection or disbelief of my story is unfounded. It’s actually true. Really!” Which makes a kind of sense if you’re telling an unlikely or implausible story in the first place. Which are the kind most worth telling. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/71 "2017-09-01T17:13:59Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > **LSLGuy** : Is the TPS Report done? > **Clueless worker** : Yes. (actually meaning “I have no idea, but if all is going perfectly today it might be done now. Or maybe later.” > **LSLGuy** : \. Grrr. Just this morning gigi: The environment was supposed to refresh last night but I don’t see my updates. Tech1: It did. What are you looking for? gigi prepares response… Tech2: Disregard Tech1’s email. At the last minute we had to cancel. Um, so Tech1 just lied to me, right? “As far as I know, it did” would have been better. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/72 "2017-09-02T01:01:43Z")
“Know what I’m sayin?” Repeated after every sentence. That’s the only one that really grates to me. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/73 "2017-09-02T01:42:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Yes. This and “in terms of.” I know we’re drifting from fillers, but when every third or fourth sentence contains “in terms of” then there’s an issue. > > Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk I see you point about drifting but when a phrase like this is used so many times it is just filler rather than a way of saying something like “in conclusion”. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/74 "2017-09-02T05:51:39Z")
I once had a boss who would call the whole plant into the break room for a meeting, and would say “and so on and so forth” so often that I started keeping track with the hashmarks. Others would surreptitiously glance over to me to see what the score was. I would actually lose track, he said it so often. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/75 "2017-09-02T06:03:42Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > My dad who used to be a high-level manager doesn’t use verbal filler at all. That can be more annoying than it sounds, because he just … slows … down … and at some point you can’t be sure if he is going to finish that sentence or not. We had a plant engineer who was the same way; present him with a technical problem, and he’d start off strong, and as he worked through the troubleshooting checklist/flowchart in his mind, he’d begin slowing way down, until he’d just taper off completely, staring off into the distance… Those of us in the Maint. Dept. knew to just leave him alone for a few minutes, and let him work the problem; management-types would get impatient and irritated and try to prompt him, which would just disrupt his train of thought. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/76 "2017-09-02T12:45:31Z")
I work with someone who throws in the occasional “blah-blah-blah” mid-thought. I have heard it elsewhere, but not sure the reason. Maybe their brain is running faster than their mouth, or they are too lazy to say some detail, or they realize the detail is not important to the initial thought. “So, Tuesday we’re going to meet the vendor and discuss the fee schedule, SLA, audits, blah-blah-blah. Then, we’ll go to lunch.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/77 "2017-09-02T13:35:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@eschereal](#): > > > > But the one that puts me off is in a debate, when someone starts a response with “The fact of the matter is …”. Utter verbal garbage. “In point of fact, …” is just as bad. > > How is this “verbal garbage”? The expression is clearly meant to convey the idea that “while some of the issues here may be contentious, the following must surely be acknowledged as factual …”. The expression may well be misused by some, but it does have a useful meaning. Dickens was making fun of its misuse as a verbal tic 170 years ago: > [@Dombey and Son](#): > > ‘Upon my honour,’ says Cousin Feenix, ‘although it’s an unusual sort of thing in a private gentleman’s house, I must beg leave to call upon you to drink what is usually called a—in fact a toast.’ > > The Major very hoarsely indicates his approval. Mr Carker, bending his head forward over the table in the direction of Cousin Feenix, smiles and nods a great many times. > > ‘A—in fact it’s not a—’ Cousin Feenix beginning again, thus, comes to a dead stop. > > ‘Hear, hear!’ says the Major, in a tone of conviction. > > Mr Carker softly claps his hands, and bending forward over the table again, smiles and nods a great many more times than before, as if he were particularly struck by this last observation, and desired personally to express his sense of the good it has done. > > ‘It is,’ says Cousin Feenix, ‘an occasion in fact, when the general usages of life may be a little departed from, without impropriety; and although I never was an orator in my life, and when I was in the House of Commons, and had the honour of seconding the address, was—in fact, was laid up for a fortnight with the consciousness of failure—’ ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/78 "2017-09-02T14:30:29Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > \ > > 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’. So, the OP’s aunt is former Doper **Super Kapowzler**? (And shit.) ---
**Author:** ![Pippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5a626/32.png) [@Pippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pippers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/79 "2017-09-02T15:25:28Z")
“And, um”. Said between e.v.e.r.y. sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121/80 "2017-09-03T01:02:35Z")
The "I mean"s are really ubiquitous, even when they start talking, such as when answering a reporter’s question, NOT explaining something they said earlier, I mean… Also …“and stuff.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbal-filler-that-are-just-the-worst/795121.md?page=5)