The Truth About Umms and Uhhs

If you aren’t accustomed to hearing your own voice it’s one of the first things that stands out… all those umms and uhhs. 

One out of every 60 words we say is umm or uhh.

Interview guests will frequently ask “Could you edit all those out?” 

At Toastmasters someone is even assigned to count your umms and uhhs as you present and report them to you (that’s not distracting at all).

But what do those verbal fillers really mean? Are they necessarily negative? Is there a threshold whereby too many suddenly becomes negative? Should you work to eliminate them from your speech?

Or is it possible these little expressions are essential pieces of the fabric and machinery that make up verbal conversation and understanding?

Guest Nick Enfield, BA (Hons) (ANU), PhD (Melbourne), FAHA FASSA FRSN
Professor Linguistics, Director Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre
Email: nick.enfield@sydney.edu.au
Website: http://nickenfield.org/ 

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