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In Spanish these are called "muletillas" and are far from a recent phenomenon. Rather than just being "filler" words, they have a purpose in speech. A speech is
by pseingatl 10y ago
In Spanish these are called "muletillas" and are far from a recent phenomenon. Rather than just being "filler" words, they have a purpose in speech. A speech is not a mere collection of words. Timing and delivery is just as important as eloquence. It is often better to use a filler word than an empty pause.
- jordigh 10y ago"Muletillas" is just the Spanish word for the general linguistic phenomenon of fillers. Both "muletillas" and "fillers" mean the sam thing and serve the same purpose, for example to inform your listener that you're still thinking and forming a sentence, that you are not done. Now I want to read this book about fillers that I just stumbled upon: https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/tsl.93/main https://benjamins.com/#catalog/books/tsl.93/main
- JoshTriplett 10y agoThere are better fillers to use than "um" and "uh", though, which don't reflect as badly on the speaker. As some random examples, you can connect things with "Now, [pause] ...", or "On the other hand," or "For that matter,", or many other connecting phrases. Those can be time-fillers too, but as long as they're not overused, they just sound like conversational language rather than making the speaker sound awkward or unpracticed.
- lotharbot 10y agoyou can also sometimes use body language as connective filler. Blah blah blah blah [holds finger up] [dramatic pause] blah blah blah blah blah!
- kagamine 10y agoContinuous, ponderous nodding. The listener's big gun. What I want is people in IT to stop using "super". Super effective, super this, super that. Super hard to stop, but it would be super if they did.
- GrinningFool 10y agoDepending on the circumstance I've been working hard on just using silence - or when that would go on too long , simply saying, "I'm thinking that through" or something similar. Anecdotally people seem more focused on what I'm saying when I do that vs the filler sounds I'm trying to stop saying.
- dsugarman 10y agoI've found the exact opposite to be true in practice, an empty pause feels awkward when you are the speaker but to the audience it conveys expertise, confidence and power
- galistoca 10y agoJust because something "exists" doesn't mean it's a good thing. Try to use silence instead of those ummms. You'll notice you'll get much more attention when you're talking. Silence introduces tension to conversations which makes people pay attention. This is based both on theory (there are tons of books out there that talk about this) and practice (mine).
- collyw 10y agoI agree, a silence seems to imply the speaker has a level of confidence in what they are talking about, wheres "umms" sound a bit more like they are making it up as they go along. Obviously this is a subjective opinion, and too long a pause will seems strange.
- crasco 10y agoIt's true though. Engaging speakers use those pauses as breaks to allow the audience to catch up and digest what was just said where as "umm" instills the idea that the speaker isn't prepared and is hunting for what to say next.
- rtpg 10y agoYou can also pace yourself to remove silence, "buffering" your speech.
- maker1138 10y agoIn Japanese, the word for filler is "Naruto".
- Jemmeh 10y agoHere I am reading all this serious talk and you're over here trying to get water to come out of my nose.