Meet “So”, the new “Um”…
From the Drunken PM Blog
by Dave Prior
Drunken Boxing for Project Managers
“The main feature of the drunkard boxing is to hide combative hits in drunkard-like, unsteady movements and actions so as to confuse the opponent. The secret of this style of boxing is maintaining a clear mind while giving a drunken appearance.”
Yeah... just like that… but with network diagrams and burndown charts… and a wee bit less vodka.
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Date
A few months ago I started noticing that on a number of the podcasts I listen to the word “So” began to get a lot more play. Specifically, people were using it as a lead into what they were going to say. It was different, not necessarily grammatically correct, but convenient and somewhat intriguing.
For example:
“I was making breakfast this morning, and …”
becomes
“So (long pause), this morning I was making breakfast and…”
Over the past month, it seems to have jumped to office speak as well. It has become impossible for me to get through a phone call or meeting without people using it right and left. Oddly, the world “like” has dropped out of site. I should say that I’m as guilty of this as anyone else and the more aware of it I become, the troublesome it is to me.
Of interesting note is that in yoga, “Soham” is a mantra, which means, “I am That”. When using the mantra, "So" is pronounced during inhalation and Ham during exhalation.
So, what’s the deal with "So"? Why has it invaded the business speak like a verbal bird flu? It does not seem to have yet achieved “ducks in a row” status as being a horribly overused phrase, but I do not think this is from lack of trying.
Posted on: March 25, 2008 01:15 AM |
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Comments (5)
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Geoffrey Kelly
Senior Project Manager| Aviva Investors
London, United Kingdom
To check out the word 'So' have a look at the following link
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/so
Or try so-party.com for a fun day out
So, might this be language depending? :-)
I guess in other languages other words do the same job?
What is the common denominator of those words?
People use so many different types of "filler" words, depending on their age, language, and background. Within different parts of the US, there are many regional fillers.
New Yorkers - Hunh? (Everything can be a confrontational question to a New Yorker...)
Canadians - "Eh" or "Aey"
Japanese - "Ummmmm"
Younger US people - "Yeah right", "Yeah"
US people in their 20s or 30s (used to be "young people" filler) - "Like"
I am in a Toastmasters group, and we actually count the fillers in people who speak at our club. In New Jersey, we see a lot of people start out with "um" and "ah", but many graduate on to "so". Others use "and" to separate every single sentence:
"And we need to consider this issue... and ... it is really an important issue ... and ..."
Personally, I went through a phase where I would click my tongue as a kind of unconscious filler-word.
Here is an interesting bit of trivia that I have noticed, because I have been listening for these since at least 2000, when I joined Toastmasters:
There are times when fillers are OK.
If you are in a conversation with someone, we use fillers to let the other person know that we are not done talking yet. On radio, it is absolutely forbidden to allow there to be "dead air" or long periods of silence. Radio personalities use fillers a lot, and they should. It is a way to avoid dead air when they are speaking live. During TV or radio interviews, some strong personalities use a lot of fillers as a way to hold the floor while they compose their next thought.
A podcaster might want to follow the same protocol as a radio personality. "Dead air" is not good for a podcast that is supposed to have a "live radio" feel.
On the other hand, a pre-recorded podcast can be edited to remove all these fillers. I do some digital sound editing for my own speeches, and I will sometimes edit out the ums and ahs. If I have a flawless performance except for one ugly filler-word, I just clip it out using sound-editing software.
Generally, though, if you are on stage, and you have command of the audience, there is no reason for the fillers. That is why we count fillers at a Toastmasters meeting. Ideally we cut them down to none, because we are up on stage before a live audience. We do not need fillers to keep the audience's attention, or to signal that we are not done speaking yet. It is obvious that we are still speaking -- we are on stage!
Dave Prior
Trainer/Consultant| LeadingAgile
New York, Ny, United States
I used to work in a recording studio and my job was to edit voice overs for commercials. I spent months of my life splicing fillers and breath sounds out of tape. Now of course, things are much easier... When I edited the first version of the audio podcast for Art of War and PMs, I took out all the fillers and breathing, and everyone I played it for said it sounded weird because it wasn't how I actually talk.... kinda makes sense given the medium.
However, on a conference call, when 5 people in a row begin with "So...", its like, enough to like , um like, make me want to like, um, like scream. Ya know?
In Japan, I noticed a lot of people said "...anoooo..." frequently. It confused me, given that the word "ano" means "that" in Japanese. It just didn't make sense. I asked several people, but they had no explanation of why they said it or what it meant in that context. After a couple of days, I met an American who spoke fluent Japanese. He explained it was exactly the same as us saying "....ummm..." or "....so...". While still living there a few years later, I was reflecting back on this and found myself saying it lot, too, when I spoke Japanese. It just shows how we all feel the need to vocalize something, anything, while our brains search for the next meaningful words. Interesting...
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