Sushi, a very active Hunch contributor, takes note in her blog today of the proliferation of ‘like’ as a mindless verbal interjection which entraps so many English speakers.
I couldn’t agree more. The constant repetition of fillers such as ‘like’ or ‘you know’ can make otherwise incredibly bright people sound incredibly lame. I’ve had seemingly well-qualified job applicants sprinkle enough ‘likes’ and ‘kindas’ throughout the interview that you’d think they were making a commission on it. This doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence in their broader communication skills.
I’m far from perfect in this regard myself, but I do try to be cognizant about overusing filler words. Plenty of stupid things slip out of my mouth as it is, so I hardly need to be fueling the fire by, like, always saying ‘like’, you know?
Kelly Ford writes random morsels about online marketing, business, and general life in NYC and Berlin.
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