Why Do So Many People Say ‘Like’ and ‘Totally’ All the Time?
It can be mainly due to two reasons:
- They are nervous and are trying to find the right words to say and while looking for the right words, they stuff in these fillers.
- They are really stupid and their vocabulary is pathetically limited. They don’t know much but still feel inclined to use too many words in the hopes that if what they have to say is lengthy, listeners might think that they know a lot.
I hate those two fillers but even worse are too many “you knows”! I once counted this asshole ex-colleague of mine during a presentation and he said around 80 “you knows”. We poked fun of him for this and basically told him to go and learn a few more words.
Even worse – “you understand?” Some people stitch them together and make it and even lazier and even more irritating “yanderstand?” and it is annoying as hell. You aren’t complicated enough for us to get confused and so yeah, everyone understand what you mean. Expand your fucking vocabulary to decent standards.
Prompt from The Learning Network at The New York Times
