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The most popular academic theory (IIRC) is that "um" and "uh" are conversational placeholders that say, "don't talk, I'm not finished speaking yet". Which obvio
by bluebarbet 4mo ago
The most popular academic theory (IIRC) is that "um" and "uh" are conversational placeholders that say, "don't talk, I'm not finished speaking yet". Which obviously serves no purpose in a monologue.
To me they just indicate lack of confidence on the part of the speaker.
- skrebbel 4mo agoThere's a correlation between speaking with confidence and bullshitting / corner cutting. Hard, nuanced questions require more thinking time to produce a nuanced answer. But a bullshitter will just confidently answer subtly wrong stuff. But they won't say "uh"! Is that really better?
- bluebarbet 4mo agoSure, that figures. Much of this is surely subjective.
- BobbyTables2 4mo agoThe gifted ones seem to manage to intelligently babble for the beginning part while simultaneously forming the real answer.