Filler words

I was... like.. you know... tired. That is something you may actually hear these days. What should be a three-word sentence becomes a six-word sequence by virtue of what we, linguists, euphemistically call "discourse markers".

Yes. Discourse markers. You may know them by a plethora of other names: "hesitation devices", "pause fillers", "phatic tokens", etc. They are essentially words (or sounds) which a speaker uses to buy time. The way I see it, saying I was tired shouldn't be a struggle. It's a simple thought that can be expressed with the most basic grammar and vocabulary. So, what is the problem here? I don't quite know the answer to that question, but I suspect that laziness (again!) plays a major role in the "phenomenon".

In general terms, filler words aren't an error. On the contrary, they help us keep the speech going. However, the overuse of those words tends to signal that you're not thinking straight, which is only forgivable when you're truly too exhausted to think at all. Under normal circumstances (whatever that may mean) you ought to be able to utter a subject-verb-object sequence without resorting to any form of hedging. I was tired. No hesitation.

In the clip below Donald Glover uses the word like 20 times in 48 seconds. What he explains is, well... not exactly rocket science.

If someone should ask you about your take on the paintings by Picasso you would be excused for being at a loss for words. In such a scenario even an expert would probably deploy some degree of hesitation, but a different kind... the good kind.

Consider this opinion:

I think he was uh... technically brilliant, but, you know, he also innovated quite a bit. Actually, he experimented in multiple areas and, in his own way, I think he redefined the very concept of... uh... well... not only painting, but art in general.

The question is rather challenging. Unsurprisingly, even a sophisticated speaker will have to juggle several concepts and choose between lots of different possible terms. Think about the many words which can be used to describe Picasso (painter, sculptor, artist, creator, maverick), his skills (talented, gifted, extraordinary, masterful, brilliant), his contributions (innovate, break new ground, pioneer, cofound), his productivity (relentless, determined, unflinching), his political views (engage, timing, commitment). As you see, there are so many things you can say about Picasso that it would be miraculous if you managed to articulate a flawless, filler-free response in your mother tongue, let alone in a foreign language.

That said, the lexical options are drastically reduced when you discuss a particular aspect of a science. Indeed, in areas such as Physics or Chemistry many terms simply don't have synonyms. To the best of my knowledge, stem cells don't go by any other name. The same can be said about terms like DNA or chromosome. That alone explains why a biologist will show less hesitation when expounding the process of meiosis, for example. Anyhow, the video below makes that very point quite persuasively.

So, my dear learners, go easy on the fillers. Used sparingly they are a sign of advanced fluency (no doubt about that), but, much like spicy sauce, overuse tends to be... uh... rather... you know...  counterproductive.