Role reversal always provides one with an interesting perspective of one’s own point of view. As a person whose business is to coach people to communicate effectively with other people, I recently found myself sitting in a virtual room to learn the arcane byways of a new software application from a technical trainer. Being at the opposite end of the pipeline, magnified one of my own principal tenets: language is the primary avenue of expression.
The instructor was a most personable young man. He was quite knowledgeable about his subject and he had organized its exposition most efficiently. His supported his narrative and demonstration with elegantly simple graphics that he ran on a sophisticated display system. In structure and presentation, he was a positive role model for the very skills I recommend to my own clients.
But then there was the matter of his language. All his formidable knowledge and information came rolling out in long word strings interspersed with what is known as “filler words.” No, not the universally dreaded “UM”s. Yes, those fillers are pervasive and problematic, but they are sounds and not words. I’m referring to actual words that merely fill the spaces between the important words—words that simply fill up verbal space and empty out the narrative.
See if they look familiar to you:
The Filler Top Ten
1. like
2. you know
3. basically
4. stuff like that
5. real quick
6. probably
7. kind of
8. sort of
9. I mean
10. I’ll just
The end result is that the fillers diminish the important words, making it difficult for the audience to absorb them, or worse, weakening the important words by surrounding them with all those qualifiers.
Unfortunately, the young man is likely to be unaware that he is vitiating his information and, more important, his authority. His means of expression is nothing more than a carryover from his adolescence. Listen to teenagers speak and try counting the number of times they say “like.” Even more unfortunate, the computer instructor is not alone. His pattern is present throughout the business world. The verbal static is so pervasive, we almost stop hearing it.
But we do hear it at some level, and we respond accordingly. It’s like listening to a bureaucratic spokesperson who makes a formal announcement using the passive voice to avoid providing details or substance. In doing so, the message comes across as inconclusive and unconvincing. Filler words do the same. They make the speaker appear uncertain and lessen the value of their important words and ideas. Fillers empty the meaning.
Revisit the list and purge them from your vocabulary.
"filled" - Google News
April 23, 2021 at 04:50PM
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Filled To Empty: 10 Meaningless Filler Words - Forbes
"filled" - Google News
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