Definition:
Hesitation forms (meaningless filler words, phrases, or stammerings) in speech--such as um, you know, like, uh, okay.
Etymology:
From the Greek, "something thrown in"Examples and Observations:
- "Um, this is a fairly unique moment both in our, you know, in our country’s history, and, and in, in, you know, my own life, and um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges, our economy, you know, health care, people are losing their jobs here in New York obviously um, ah, you know."
(Caroline Kennedy, in an interview conducted by Nicholas Confessore and David M. Halbfinger of The New York Times, December 27, 2008) - "Mrs. Kennedy has managed variously to seem utterly opaque while lacking in the basic skills of plain speaking. There has been not a little mockery of her dependence in conversation on the verbal filler, 'you know.' She was heard to utter it 138 times in a conversation with reporters from The New York Times. In a single TV interview she reportedly galloped past the 200 mark. That's a lot of you knows."
(David Usborne, "Now Voters Turn Against Kennedy's Stuttering Campaign," The Independent, January 7, 2009) - "Uh, in a school. And my father, he was, uh, from the United States. Just like you, ya know? He was a Yankee. Uh, he used to take me a lot to the movies. I learn. I watch the guys like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney. They, they teach me to talk."
(Al Pacino as Tony Montana in the film Scarface) - "Okay, what do ya say I, uh, go over there and tell her how much I like her? No, no, it'd be good."
(Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing in an episode of Friends) - "I've heard about it. I hope you go--you know--I hope you go back to the ranch and the farm is what I'm about to say."
(President George W. Bush, explaining that he hadn't yet seen the film Brokeback Mountain, January 23, 2006)
Pronunciation: em-bo-LA-lee-a
Also Known As: filler, spacers
