I ask because I caught myself being a huge hypocrite again.
I’m a millennial and I criticized a Gen Z friend for her constant use of the word ‘lowkey.’
I then realized do I not do the same thing? I often say ‘sorta’ or ‘kinda’ when I do just mean I did the thing in the same way she uses ‘lowkey.’
No, I didn’t ‘kinda’ delete a guy’s account at my stupid IT job. I DELETED HIS ACCOUNT! I didn’t ‘sorta’ leave too late for work. I FUCKING LEFT LATE!
So I am a massive fucking hypocrite who needs to just let Gen Z chill and do what the want as I am the same flavor of asshole, but what about you?
I’m ready for people to move on from describing 85% of things as “unhinged”.
Your comment is completely unhinged
His actions were completely hinged
Why use more word when less word work
For decoration, signalling emotional state, and to play with words.
More word sometimes make talk pretty and precise, but sometimes opposite. Words hard :(
s** world 🐟🌎
Oceans. Fish. Jump. China.
Why more? Less word work
More? Less.
? .
unga bunga, genius!
It can subtly influence meaning
No, I mean I don’t use them needlessly or whatever. I kinda use them to sorta let my thoughts buffer.
I mean like it’s kinda like fuck man like you know like it’s kinda sorta like fuck man like fuck you know man like sorta kinda like fuck man like fuck man you know like it’s kinda like-
The curse-filler version of the rainbow wheel.
For some reason, I have an incredibly difficult time not saying like.
I bet if there were a word cloud of mymost commonly used words of all of my posts, “like” would be the sun in my fucking word solar system.
This is super common on the west coast of Canada (and I assume the United States as well.) Most of my friends from there say it constantly.
Filler words are normal, and every language has them.
It’s got California origins in the US, but it’s spread.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_girl
A valley girl is the stereotype of a materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocabulary, vocal mannerisms, and California accent features, who comes from the Los Angeles commuter communities of the San Fernando Valley.[1] A youth subcultural identity and stock character in American popular media, it originated in and is most associated with the 1980s and 1990s.
Valleyspeak, or valspeak, is a (stereotypical) California English social dialect and accompanying vocal features, best associated with Valley girls, though elements of it may be used by other demographics, including some men of a similar background (“val dudes”).[3] This sociolect became an international fad for a certain period in the 1980s and 1990s. Valleyspeak is popularly characterized by both the steady use of uptalk, certain vowel sounds, and its vocabulary. The vowel sounds are in fact part of the larger California vowel shift becoming more common in the American West and Canada, as well as elsewhere in the U.S. Certain features once associated with Valspeak are now simply mainstream in many American speakers born since the late 20th century.[4]
Features and qualifiers
- “Like” as a discourse marker. “Like” is used as a filler word, similar to “um” or “er”, as in, “I’m, like, totally about to blow chunks.” When “like” is functioning as a discourse marker, the word itself does not semantically change the phrase or sentence. Instead, it provides time for the speaker to formulate what they will say next. The word is always unstressed when used in this way. “Like” does not always function as a discourse marker in Valspeak. Consider the following two sentences: “It was like eight feet deep,” and “I think that, like, it is entertaining.” Even though both sentences contain the word “like,” they employ it differently. In the former, “like” serves as an adverb that is synonymous with “approximately”, whereas the latter “like” is a discourse marker, adding no additional meaning to the sentence.[15] Furthermore, “like” is frequently used to introduce quoted speech. For example, a person can recount a conversation by stating, “So, uh, I’m like, ‘Where did he go?’ And she was like, ‘I don’t know, I haven’t seen him.’”[16]
I’m french, and it’s a geberational thing I guess. People my age often say “genre” (equals “kinda”), and older people find this very annoying (I’m 22)
I use "umm… " and “uuuh…” to let my thoughts buffer when I talk.
I would like to think I don’t use filler words but this is a good opportunity for some self reflection. Thank you.
I sometimes correct zoomers if something is actually high key.
There are two primary reasons people use filler words.
One is to maintain possession of the role of ‘speaker’ in the conversation because, if you stop for a while, someone might think you’re done (if it sounded like the end of a thought) or have broken down trying to think of what to say. Spending time in environments where people have high demands for time or competition for attention can make these things worse. The other is social fear or anxiety about how your message will be received, or over one’s correctness and certainty. ‘I am claiming this thing for myself,’ has the same ultimate goal as ‘Nah, lowkey f’real, I was kinda maybe thinking of nabbing that,’ but the use of the extra ‘filler’ words and slang is designed to obfuscate the meaning, making it passive agressive, forcing the listener to parse the extra layers of obfuscation before having a chance to object, and leaving a verbal avenue of retreat open if someone does object, allowing them to say, ‘No, I said I was thinking about it.’ Spending time in environments where one has to deal with openly agressive people can often make people seek out these verbal conflict avoidance techniques.I still use “cool” a lot, but I think its become one of those words that will persist through generations.
It’s not really a filler word, but I’ve been corrected on my use of “just,” particularly at my work place. “Just” is often used by some people to minimise the impact of what they’re saying intentionally. For example, “I just think we should change the wording in this law.” If you take out ‘just’ (and some of the other words) and say the thing you meant to say - it becomes a far punchier statement, “We should change the wording in this law.”
The OP made me think of a poem by Taylor Mali, “Speak With Conviction.”
I, like, totally do!
I’m the opposite in a way, I tend to look for a specific word and when I can’t find it right away it can make for awkward pauses in my speech. I’m working on it.
But when I was younger, sure, tons of filler words. It gets better
I use “really” and “very” way too much.
When editing my writings, I keep an eye out for those words especially, and either delete them or replace them. So, instead of “very happy”, I might write “thrilled” or “ecstatic.”
I mean, like, sorta kinda yeah
We all do, yeah. I just try and delete them when I’m writing anything for my blog. My big one used to be “technically,” and at this point I’m debating installing something that shocks me every time I type the word “realistically” because I use it way too much.
For me it’s a lack of confidence thing. Sorta/kinda/etc are there for their own reasons, I have a few theories but haven’t actually looked into it much
Mine is “evidently”
No
Yes, I definitely do. It’s because my brain runs quite slowly, slower than I talk. So I often need to put in filler words to let my brain catch up. Or I repeat the same thing I just said but in a different way.
It’s odd how the brain can kindof pre-load the mouth with a sentence, then while the sentence is playing, it hunts for the next sentence to play. If the next sentence is not ready yet, then the mouth goes into autopilot. It puts in filler words to make the sentence longer, and loops back on other things I’ve already said.
I was always told when younger to make sure brain is engaged before opening mouth because i would get lost mid sentence if it wasn’t planned out
