Since the 1980s, I’ve listened to the English language in the United States steadily adopt a habitual inclusion of what I’ll call “filler” words. These are words that convey no meaning and essentially take the place of the equally useless “um” or “uh” that serves as a placeholder in the auditory stream, indicating the speaker is momentarily stumped as to what to say next, and feels compelled to fill the air with noise.
Over the decades, this practice of inserting filler words has become infectious. Now, even network news hosts are peppering their on-screen oration with such words. Luminary television journalists are doing it now. I’ve heard people like Anderson Cooper stuck in oral neutral, spewing filler word after filler word, while the listening audience waits on a cliff edge for some morsel of meaning to finally spill out.
