viernes, 3 de mayo de 2019

On language "Crutches" and "Muletillas"

I know few languages but I bet all of those I ignore (about 6.500) have "crutches", "bordones," "muletillas"... Words, sentences, repeated constantly, wedged into other words at certain intervals. One such in Spanish is "¿No?" "Fui a casa, ¿no?, y en la cocina, ¿no?, me encontré una rata, ¿no?, que se comía el queso ¿no?..." Stop it!
It is my harmless hobby to count such "fillers" while I listen to someone on TV giving a serious talk. Listening to an interview given by Steven Pressfield (The War on Art) on YouTube I had to stop counting his "you know" because I was losing track of his ideas. Pressfield is a writer I admire, a "pro", someone who shows up every morning, as he is wont to say, yet no one has told him to give up this bad habit. 
In Spanish you will hear "sabe usted,"sabes," or worse: "sausté", again and again.
On TV talk shows every participant will repeat "evidentemente" every time she opens her mouth. Others prefer "lógicamente": "Lógicamente, a mi no me gusta el queso azul." Stop it! 
The America "uh" is probably the worst "filler" on the face of the earth. It is a guttural sound inserted between words: "Yesterday, uh I was uh trying to find my uh wallet when uh my wife uh came in wearing an uh miniskirt and I uh said..." It can drive one crazy, nuts, bananas. Stop it!
Ask those around to tell you what your particular "filler" or "bordón" is. You will be surprised. And then: Stop it!

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