Do you um and ah in conversations?

FitzChivalry Farseer

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I'm not sp)eaking of speeches in front of other people because most of the time thats just stress or fear that causes you to um and ah. I'm speaking of normal day conversations with friends and such. Why do we do this? (generalization I know but go with it) What can we do to lessen this problem?
 

SasukeTheViper EMS

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"Um," "ah," "like," and "you know" are all conversation fillers. Most people choose to speak at a rate that exceeds their ability to form sentences, so things like "um," "eh," "ah" end up appearing repeatedly so as to buy time to finish mapping their thoughts into words.

This is particularly prevalent in younger people with smaller vocabularies and limited interest in proper grammar.
 

Kαmi

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"Um," "ah," "like," and "you know" are all conversation fillers. Most people choose to speak at a rate that exceeds their ability to form sentences, so things like "um," "eh," "ah" end up appearing repeatedly so as to buy time to finish mapping their thoughts into words.

This is particularly prevalent in younger people with smaller vocabularies and limited interest in proper grammar.
I was gonna say this but not as elegantly Lol but this is exactly why I use the above words.
I also say "hmm" while I'm thinking.
 

Aquarius

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I think we use to speak continuously and don't want listener to wait so the time we lost something we generally use it, well that kind of problem troubles me often so i try now to speak slowly and calmly so i don't forget anything and these "um", ah", "you know" should be lessened, so you also try it and i believe your problem will get solved, good luck :bye:
 

Deviation

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"Um," "ah," "like," and "you know" are all conversation fillers. Most people choose to speak at a rate that exceeds their ability to form sentences, so things like "um," "eh," "ah" end up appearing repeatedly so as to buy time to finish mapping their thoughts into words.

This is particularly prevalent in younger people with smaller vocabularies and limited interest in proper grammar.
You read my mind. I usually do this when I don't want to tell the truth in person or to piss some people off. I don't do it online but face to face I am silly. xD

You get a cookie. ;3
 
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Hexuze

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Challenge accepted (seriously though) I'll do what you say and I'll read all my books out loud from now on. I'm doing this because I do not remember a time when Ive read a complete book using my voice. I usually read using my inside voice in my head.
It's more a physiological factor than a literary factor; like fear of public speaking. You can read out loud as many times as you want but it won't help you from not saying "um" & "ah" in daily conversations. It's more of a fear/being nervous than anything. If you want to lessen this in public conversations with friends try thinking what you want to say in your head before you actually speak. From your perspective it may feel that you're taking too long to respond back but that's not the case. It's just a false perception and part of human nature. Just think before you say something and try not to speak too fast either.
 
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