Wasn’t there a whole thread about this some time ago? It’s been around for quite a while, but is it any different from people starting with “Well,…” in just the same way? It’s a placeholder while the brain kicks in with the substantive answer.
Would “um” bother you the same way?
Having done a fair amount of public speaking where I fielded questions from the audience I am well aware of falling into the “Um”, trap while I think of what to say. It’s a hard habit to break.
Stupid overheard conversations from the other side of things…
My buddy “Jim” (not Gilbert’s real name) got horribly drunk one night 15 or so years ago. “Jim’s” wife didn’t want to leave the party, so “Jim” went outside and passed out in his car. Another friend, “Mike” (not Terry’s real name) went out to check on him a few times. “Mike” took teabags, soaked them in water, then applied them to “Jim’s” face, torso, dashboard, etc.
When “Mike” told us that he had teabagged “Jim”, we all assumed the worst and went out to check it out. Hahaha, teabagged, not “teabagged”. It was a joke. We took pics.
A few days later “Jim” was driving and saw my vehicle parked at a bar. He stopped and came in. I was talking with a group of people “Jim” did not know. He said in a very serious tone of voice, “kayaker, I’m asking as a friend that you delete any pictures you have of me being teabagged”.
“Jim” was the last person in the US to know what “teabagged” meant.
Now,
in Australia, the word is “Now”. I’m only amused by the talk-back radio callers who start every thought with “Now”. I’m totally non-forgiving for radio hosts who do the same thing.
Now,
I know that it’s difficult to think and talk at the same time, but I expect more from professionals.
Now,
I get that it’s dialect, but it’s just filler, and they shouldn’t need that.
“Um” and “So” are not synonyms
“Um” is recognized to mean “stand by while I collect my thoughts”.
“So” means “what occurs next as an effect of what was just described”. Used in reply to every question, it becomes a twitch.
Meh. Every variant of English (and I suspect of other languages, but I don’t know this) has introductory fillers used in spoken language, even in quite formal contexts. In British English, it’s commonly “Well”
Amusingly to English speaking people, in Polish a common filler/intro word is “No.”
It doesn’t mean no (that would be “nie”) and translates to “well” or “so.”
“So”, “Well” and “Now” all have different meanings when used as introductories to a remark.
“So” is a conjunction signifying cause-ansd effect, and would rarely fit as a link from question to answer. "And or “But” would be used not to answer a question, but to amplify it.
Commonly, yes, But equally commonly, people use them as fillers/placeholders: and what use is intended in any given case is commonly clear from the context, however irritating a speech habit it might be.
Now, about “like”…
I read something a while back that opened my eyes about “like”. In this usage, “like” is a quotative. It introduces a description of something, which in person need not even be verbal.
An example: someone says, “And she was all, like, crazy.” On the word “crazy” the speaker acts out an impression of the subject. It’s definitely a interactive in-person usage.
When I read that, “like” made a lot more sense. I think a lot of friction comes from transcribing spoken usages and expecting them to conform to the style of written usage.
—Sunspace, who got this usage of “like” stuck in his head almost forty years ago while waiting for a bus on the ring road at Waterloo University and listening to “Valley Girl” on his Walkman… weird that I can actually remember this.
The point about fillers is that they have no semantic content at all.
“So”, “well”, “now”, “ah, look”, “may it please the court” and “ladies and gentlemen” may have different meanings in other contexts, but when used as introductory fillers they all have much the same meaning as a clearing of the throat.
If I heard four people in a week on CNN answer a question repeatedly with “Err” or “Awk”,it would get my attention as being out of the ordinary, not to mention if they said something which otherwise would have semantic meaning, like “Marshmallow”.
It’s the first time I ever heard it. Suddenly, almost daily. It sound’s stupid, in the absence of an explanation.
The one that makes me want to scream is “I mean…” as in:
Interviewer: What are your thoughts on the current situation?
Interviewee: I mean, I think things will get worse before they get better.
Shouldn’t “I mean” be used to clarify something you just said, not to begin your initial statement? < deep cleansing breaths>
That one makes me think of “Alice’s Restaurant.”
“I mean … I mean … I MEAN … I’m sittin’ here on the bench. I’m sitting here, on the Group W bench …”
More random things I’ve overheard in my life
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“I mostly prefer guys who are are 9 to 10 inches, it just feels better” - Overheard by two female friends talking in high school
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“Some people like to put ketchup on their tacos” - Somebody asking the cashier at Taco Bell why they stocked ketchup back before they had a breakfast menu
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“Slaves couldnt have built the White House, there was no slavery in the North” - Heard on a local radio call-in show
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Was Obama a Republican or Democrat, I need to know who to vote for next election" - Person at work asking who to vote for in 2019
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“I don’t believe people can drink 8 glasses of water a day, that’s impossible to do” - Different person at work
From just the quote itself, If a person is uninformed politically, but remembers Obama as a good/bad president, finding out which party he belonged to could be how they decide who to voter for. So I don’t think this as particularly stupid it just shows a lack of interest in politics. If they actually believed that Obama was a choice as a candidate, that is a different story altogether.
Now for my contribution to the thread. My family and I were in Paris, France standing in front of Notre Dame de Paris, with my father talking about the carvings on the arches at the entrance. A random tourist then comes up to us an asks: “Is this Notre Dame?” My dad answered in the affirmative, but we all were tempted to reply: “No, that’s in Paris”.
//i\\
When I was a child, a friend of mine was visiting when we had tacos for dinner. He asked for ketchup to put on them. We were all deeply confused, but complied, being good hosts.
A while later I was at his house when tacos were on the menu. Sure enough, tacos in that house consisted of a large flour tortilla, ground beef (can’t remember now how it was flavored), shredded cheese, and ketchup.
The mind boggles.
Reminds me of that old sexist joke about why women are bad at estimating distances.
A few years ago in my office a lady was on the phone speaking quite loudly. We all heard her say 'my manager told me I’m 7 months pregnant '. Everyone in the room started laughing. I think what she meant was 'my manager told me that because I’m 7 months pregnant (she got an allocated parking space)