Author: jennrae

There are a few words I can think of off the top of my head. The Word “like” being the obvious one. I hear a lot of people use it as a filler word the way some use the noise “umm” to fill in the space while they look for the word they actually want to use.

I have a lot of issues with “like” as a filler word. The obvious one is it annoys the crap out of me because the word no longer has any meaning, and if you actually are trying to use “like” to mean “like” it can get confusing because of how overused it is. The whole point of communication is to communicate, after all.

My other issue is that it makes the person automatically sound silly and like they are using “valley girl” speech, which is difficult to take seriously.

Some people think southern U.S. accents make people seem unintelligent. I personally don’t think so, I think they take their time, but that doesn’t signify unintelligence to me. Valley girl speech however, does sound unintelligent.

It sounds like you didn’t focus in school, don’t know many words, and that you may be a bit on the younger side. Although I have heard a 40 year old talk like this so this is a stereotype for sure.

So in addition to the overused “like” I have also noticed an uptick in the increasing use of the word “right.” Right is less obnoxious and less likely to cause me to judge you, but I have noticed it trending as a not quite filler word, so much as an “I agree with you so much” term.

For example I was training someone, a perfectly capable, intelligent, very nice person. So, I am not judging them for this, it is just the first example I can recall of this, but I am seeing it more and more in conversations.

Every time I would suggest or say anything, this person would say, “I know, right?” At first it was like, okay, it is a phrase. That’s fine. But it kept happening. Over three days, I would hear, “I know, Right.” Or sometimes, just ‘Right?” Implying, I know, right? And, now I can’t unhear it. Especially at work, I heard it the other day, and it sticks out to me.

It isn’t as overused as “like.” But, it is trending up. I feel like for me it sticks out especially. It is a phrase designed to inspire camaraderie, or agreement. It isn’t bad per se. Just being the way I am, I like to vary my speech a bit. I don’t want to get stuck using the same phrase over and over.

My mind tends to get suspicious of people being nice or kind, and I tend to then think why is this person telegraphing so hard that they are on my side? Why are they agreeing so much? Are they just that agreeable or are they not really listening?

It does seem kind of an autopilot type of phrase, something one might add when they don’t have an opinion or don’t know what to say. It is ultimately harmless. And I feel weird complaining about a phrase that inspires people to agree with one another, and not argue. It seems wholesome.

I guess I am suspicious of those that agree without asking follow up questions. I also am reluctant to fall into a catchphrase type of trap because I like diversity in my words. It seems like it would be easy to fall into this one because it is so agreeable and harmless.