Trenchant

ah well, you know, I mean aa, actually, hmm basically like….

aa well I thought of writing this post, you know, hmm ah….Isn’t this how we sometimes stammer and stutter when we’ve to talk? Talking in English isn’t really difficult as long as we have our basics in place and we’re able to think a bit before we talk. Most often we won’t get a chance to prepare an speak, most of our talking is impromptu. We can’t help, but we’d have to think of the idea, pull out the right words from our vocabulary, frame the sentence, and speak, all at once. Its amazing how fast our faculties sync and respond.

There are all kinds of speakers. Some are pleasant to listen to, some have great content to talk, some bore you to death, some stutter, some make you feel you want to listen more. This post intends to talk about those of us who use too many – ah, aa, you know, well, hmm, basically, and, actually, but, so, etc. – fillers they’re called. We tend to fill our sentences with these words and phrases, usually when we change idea to idea, and most often to keep the talking going while we think of the next part of the sentence. This might not be much of a problem as long as we think its okay! But think again, won’t we sound better and clear if did away with these fillers and used the right words? Yes, that is going to require a lot of effort and conscious practice. As an example, let us compare these two sentences:
“This morning aa I’d been to this place, mm, you know the supermarket round the corner, so, things were thrown around basically all over the place, I was actually stunned.”
“This morning I’d been to the supermarket round the corner. I was stunned to see things thrown all over the place”. The second sentence was not only precise and clear but also left an impression that I knew very well of what I wanted to say, as I was saying it.

I happened to play the ‘ah-counter’ today at the Toastmasters Club at my office. Ah-counter is someone who makes note of the ‘fillers’ (like the ones in the title of this post) that the participants use as they talk during the club’s session. Ah-counter doesn’t just count the fillers but also notes down the instances where the speakers repeat words and phrases to fill gaps between parts of sentences they speak. “I was standing at the counter, and …and I saw this person approach with an axe in his hand.” The ‘and’ was repeated.

Towards the end of the Toast Masters session, the ah-counter reads out the report. The participants wouldn’t otherwise realize that they usually use so many ‘unnecessary’ words to form sentences while they talk. The aim of pointing out that they use fillers is mainly to bring  awareness, so that, the next time they talk, they would take care they would have to ‘ah’ a little lesser. What does the ah-counter get? Toastmasters.org says this role is to improve listening and observation skills. But I feel there’s some more. The ah-counter also becomes conscious of his/her own fillers. After all the ah-counter can’t commit the mistakes that he/she pointed out. And also, after all, isn’t it easy to find mistakes?!!

What do you take away from this post? Next time you talk to someone in English, try to figure out how many fillers you use. Its funny, there will be quite a few. Its fun too.

What else? Hmm aaa.. well.. you know… that is all!