English Chess Forum

As a regular listener to the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) I appeared to have developed an aversion to the apparently worsening habit of using irrelevant filler words/phrases in conversation.

I suspect that this is an onset of curmudgeonly / cantankerous behaviour on my behalf.

Currently annoying me in an ear-worm type fashion are:

1. Gratuitous use of "you know" for no apparent reason

2. Starting sentences with "So" or "Basically"

and worse of all

3. Liberal use of "like" multiple times in the same sentence.

I have more-or-less recovered from the outbreak of Australian Intonation Disease (AID) brought in from "Neighbours" some years ago.

Any suggestions for therapy?

Agree with you on these. "I was like..." instead of "I said..." is particularly irritating.

"You know" has been around for 50+ years.

I had a work colleague that literally (sorry) started every sentence with "So".

Charlotte Edwards (the very fine cricketer) became a summarizer on TV cricket coverage, but had the bad habit of answering every question,"Yes no", before actually answering it.

It's 'very unique' and variations thereof that rile me. It's either unique or it isn't. No qualification necessary.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:54 pm

"You know" has been around for 50+ years.

Yes, I vividly remember Alan Ball being interviewed after the 1966 World Cup victory. He couldn't seem to get more than three or four words out without saying it.

And come to think of it, even Sherlock Holmes was guilty (in The Three Gables).

Paul Ashton wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:32 pm

It's 'very unique' and variations thereof that rile me. It's either unique or it isn't. No qualification necessary.

True (I nearly said "very true" .... ), although we've had this thread for some time for airing such concerns.

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:54 pm

Charlotte Edwards (the very fine cricketer) became a summarizer on TV cricket coverage, but had the bad habit of answering every question,"Yes no", before actually answering it.

Was she influenced by The Vicar of Dibley?

'The Times' letters page is often a good source of curmudgeonly complaints. Here is one from Monday 27th February:

WORRYING TREND
Sir, Sitting in my favourite pub, having requested a drink from the young waiter, I hear the dreaded response, “No worries”. A momentary slip? Sadly not. Every subsequent transaction ends the same way. What response can I make? “Thank you” is unlikely to change things. “I’m pleased for you”, “I hoped there wouldn’t be”, “I have none either”, “Please don’t keep saying that”? Maybe I should have just screamed and risked embarrassment.
Ken Humphris
High Casterton, Cumbria

I get annoyed by valueless 'I means'; these seem particularly common with Londoners.

Get rid of these fillers!

Paul Habershon wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 01, 2023 4:10 pm

' I hear the dreaded response, “No worries”.

On that topic I would add

"My bad" (My bad what?)

and

"laters" (what does this mean?)

to my list of cringe-inducing comments.

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 01, 2023 4:46 pm

I get annoyed by valueless 'I means'; these seem particularly common with Londoners.

Get rid of these fillers!

Reminds me of boxer Frank Bruno (a Londoner) and his legendary, frequent 'Know what I mean, 'arry?' when interviewed by commentator Harry Carpenter.

@John Upham: only because I'm likely from your same decade, I allow myself to comment that even your list of language pet peeves is dated and betrays our age group.

If you dislike those expressions, what would you say about any of those from today's kids?

It's not just the uneducated though (if I can call Frank that; I wouldn't to his face). I remember Jon Snow being a particular offender. It got me shouting at the TV.

I'm grateful to Paolo for his link https://parade.com/1293898/marynliles/g ... ang-words/

I thought "woke" meant an (unrecognised) childish belief that you could bully someone into agreeing with you, rather than "politically aware". Surely "extra" is a very over-the-top reaction.

I think we can distinguish being curmudgeonly from pedantry, as the former is an opinion, and the latter is a desire for correctness. e.g. saying "very unique" is clearly wrong, whereas disliking people using slang is a pet peeve.

It seems worse then ever these days thanks to people in the public eye having an obsessive need to be seen to constantly be speaking, regardless of how worthless the "filler" phrases are.

Paolo Casaschi wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:07 pm

@John Upham: only because I'm likely from your same decade, I allow myself to comment that even your list of language pet peeves is dated and betrays our age group.

If you dislike those expressions, what would you say about any of those from today's kids?

That they're mostly an internet thing and rarely turn up in speech unless someone wants to playfully advertise how deep in "the discourse" they are.