So, you probably already know about vocal fry, valspeak and uptalk, right? I mean, everyone has heard plenty of examples of those speech patterns that have made perfectly well-educated college grads (mostly female) sound like Kardashian wannabes.
Vocal fry refers to a low, glottal, animal-like sound that speech pathologists consider a vocal disorder.
Valspeak is, like, short for the way Valley Girls talk that was, like, you know, so big Frank Zappa sang about it in 1982.
Uptalk, a subset of valspeak, is the habit of producing a rising inflection as if you’re asking a question – even when you’re not?
Here’s a new video we created to demonstrate some of the more common patterns you hear today…
To say that all these fad-driven speech patterns are kinda, sorta, well… I don’t know, annoying may seem a bit harsh. But it’s also absolutely true.
The Harsh Reality of Speech Patterns
The use of such patterns do more than annoy the listener. Even if the people indulging in these patterns have an incredibly high IQ, the patterns work against them by making them:
- Sound less intelligent
- Appear less professional
- Seem like a nitwit or airhead
- An embarrassment in front of mom, dad or the general public
- Unfit for any position that pays more than minimum wage
Despite all the detriments of allowing those patterns to unconsciously creep into your own conversational lexicon, people are falling prey at rapid rates. Some are even doing it on purpose.
One of the reasons the patterns become so widespread, particularly with the current trend of vocal fry, is the feeling of belonging it gives young women. A video on Today explains how it makes the women feel part of a “macroculture.”
If you ask me, I’d rather join a gym.
If you ask me again, I’d also predict the tide will turn and people who drop these phrases will come out on top in the long run. Drop the phrases now and you can think of it as an easy, inexpensive way to outshine 85 percent of your competitors in that next job interview.
The Up-and-Coming Most Annoying Speech Patterns
Being a voice-over talent makes me extremely sensitive to not only the sound of voices I hear on TV, radio and the internet, but also to the words that are chosen. None of these up-and-coming phrases ever appear in scripts that I read for actual voice-over jobs or auditions. They are typically found in unscripted, more extemporaneous speech.
These five speech patterns have become rampant in interviews. My husband listens to a lot of podcasts, particularly enjoying them while out driving or working in the yard. He started tracking the pervasive use of these five patterns of speaking that are appearing in virtually every interview he listens to lately, including on cable news and business channels.
Of course, once he shared them with me, I started hearing them, too.
I’ve already used all five patterns in this post, did you catch them?
1. You know – This phrase is increasingly being used at the beginning of the sentence as a lead-in. This one has been around for ages but, you know, it’s been given new life with a new use you can’t help but constantly hear if you listen for it.
“You know, the best way to find out the answers is to just Google it.”
2. So – So, you’ll also find this one at the beginning of a sentence, namely as a way to “manage” the conversation and sound fairly authoritative (or condescending). It’s become hugely common, even among expert speakers during formal interviews (just listen to NPR while various experts are interviewed). More on that idea here.
“So, what we’ve found in our research is that people tend to add this word as a way to sound informal yet still be an expert.”
3. I mean – This completely unnecessary phrase seems to just be a habitual way to start sentences for many people. I mean, where did this one come from anyway?
“I mean, if it really was a problem that I say that phrase whenever I’m trying to make my point, what difference does it make?” Whatever!
4. … right? – This one comes at the end of sentences, apparently to encourage or sometimes subtly force agreement on the listener. It reminds me of the French who often tack on a oui or non at the end of a sentence, non? It’s hit the English language strong in just the past year or so, right?
“It wasn’t just that the election campaign this year was ugly, right…? It really became a battle of negative personalities in a race to the bottom of common decency.”
5. Kind of (or sort of) – This tidbit is used anywhere in the middle, as a way to not say what you really mean. It’s sort of a way to soften, to be kind of… vague, imprecise and uncommitted.
“Well, if you look at the data, you’ll kind of notice that there’s a trend that sort of jumps out at you.”
You can even mix them all together in infinite combinations:
“Right, so… you know the best way to find out answers is to Google it, right? It’s kind of like way better than going to the library. I mean, how did people even get through the day before the internet was invented! We really owe a lot to the guy who invented that, I mean, really…
I understand these may be hip ways of speaking these days , but they actually detract from the message. They also make the speaker sound less intelligent and sometimes even manipulative.
On those rare occasions when I hear an interview with someone who is profoundly lacking all of these five patterns, it is such a breath of fresh air! I can focus and absorb what they are saying so much more easily.
More common, is hearing someone speak with various combinations of several of these patterns appearing in just one sentence! It’s kinda crazy, right?
Yes, I understand that my fixated attention on these patterns is what is causing me to be distracted. And, like a highly contagious virus, it is possible that by simply reading this post, you too will become afflicted!
Sorry about that, but it’s the only way to bring awareness to this type of conversational disease in hopes that it can be eradicated very soon.
Pay attention and I promise you’ll start noticing these patterns in nearly every casual conversation you listen in on. Even interviews with people you’d think would be trained to avoid patterns like these are using them.
It’s mildly disturbing to me. I hope you’ll be disturbed too. At least enough to curb your own use (and maybe the usage by your kids, spouse and/or significant other).
Oh, and yes, I know I left off many other annoying speech patterns. Like things like “like” because it’s just, like, beyond ubiquitous and you already know about it. Now that you’ve become painfully aware of my top five annoying speech patterns, please share your own speech pattern pet peeves.
Feel free to share in the comments! And please read through the comments for some very interesting insights and observations from other readers.
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Literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally literally just wanted to come here and say that. That’s literally it.
Sorry to “piggyback” onto your comment, but could not see how to post a new comment (luddite here).
I am appalled at a trend specific to local hack news reporters that only I seem to notice. When filming a “news” item, the reporter stops in mid-sentence, inserts dialogue from a subject in the story, then continues same sentence, possibly not completing it before interrupting again with other dialogue. When finally signing off, they will say “Reporting from (town),…. then suddenly play a random sentence from someone in the story…. then state their name, completing the damn sentence! Do they imagine they sound edgy/sophisticated?
While I am here: maybe outside the scope of this article, but the rampant misuse of the words “mantra” and “surreal” must end, as well as ANY further use of “amazing”.
Something I’ve been turning off NPR over lately is the weird pronunciation of words with a short A sound like bank or hang. People seem to be adopting a pseudo-Midwestern pronunciation, like BENK, HENG. And instead of saying merry, it’s MARY, AmAIRica for America, HAIRRY for Harry, etc. Anyone else annoyed by this?
Where are you from? On this corner of the US of A merry/MARY, HAIRRY/Harry sound identical. And how to you pronounce America? Amurica? That’s the only other way I’ve heard it spoken.
Another strange speech pattern I have noticed watching youtube reviews (only women so far) is that they add “uh” (very soft and very quickly) before words in a sentence where it makes no sense. They are NOT using it as a word in their sentence. It’s more of a tag on sound to the beginning of a word. For example,
“hey everyone welcome UHback to my channel”
“I’m going to test out a bunch of gadgets, that I got, UHfor my flight.”
“So that’s everything and I hope you found it UHhelpful…”
It’s usually used by women from california I think. Has anyone heard of this??? It’s really weird.
I cannot stand when people say “eck – specially” instead of especially.
How about when apostrophes are used in plural words. Makes me wonder how little attention is given to proper grammar and diction in school.
Something I have noticed while listening to radio interviews — often on NPR — is the interviewee’s incongruous use of the word “absolutely” prefacing their response to a question. For example, the show host asks the interviewee a question and the interviewee begins their response with, “Absolutely…” and then proceeds to answer the question. The word absolutely seems to have no relevance to the content of the response but is just inserted first! Grates on me.
Kaylee, I was beginning to worry that I was the only one that got “Grated” by the Absolutely
thing. Thanks for the comment!!
Absolutely has been a thing for a long time. It keeps getting extended. I first remember this pattern beginning in 2007
I’m sick of “That’s a really good question” when I’m in meetings at work.
And I have co-workers who frequently say “I’m so over this”
Drives me nuts
I’ve just come across Sharon Martin the original narrator of Snapped, a crime programme. She has the most annoying way of emphasising all the wrong syllables and even managing to emphasise ev-er- y sy-ll-a-ble, quite difficult I think you’ll agree. I’m happy to hear that she was replaced. Why do people speak in this way?
You are so right. I am, right now, to an interview on an otherwise interesting topic
I counted: The guy used “you know” 29 times in 4 sentences and plenty of “I mean” and lots of “right”. Although I would have liked to follow the topic, I had to switch off the radio as it just became too annoying.
There seems to be a raised inflection when verbally listing items. “Da, da, dah., Da da da. …Da da dah. (With an emphasis on the third dah). And it almost has a sing- song tone as well. It’s hard for me to explain but I hear it so frequently lately and it drives me insane.
Yes!!! It is driving me nuts.
One particular narrator uses a very raspy voice. I have heard him speak normally and his normal voice is not raspy. He does a ton of videos and seems to be improving a little. He has received a lot of negative comments.
I can’t stand hearing an interviewer say “how upset were you” or “how sick did that make you feel” etc., assuming that the person is indeed upset, sick, and is asked to explain just HOW upset or sick, etc.
Are you talking about Stacy Dooley? I cannot abide her.
One that really tightens my jaw at recent hearings, etc. is, “Thank you for that question.” Perhaps it would irritate me less if they’d bother to answer the question for which they claim to be thankful.
Good one — but still can’t beat the over use of the word LIKE in my book. LIKE drives me LIKE nuts! How can you get away from someone when they talk like that?
Agree; it really means “I don’t like your question and I have no intention of answering it”.
I hate that sing song thing, and the valley girl speak. I am beginning to hear younger women do this. No one uses ly at the end of a word. My best friend says, ” I take that personal. Ughhhh. And, so, drives me crazy, and is very condescending(sp ).
In the mix, workshop, going forward, that’s a very good question, drive me crazy.
The “thank you for waiting” – – – when you have stood in line, no matter 45 seconds or 4 minutes (or more).
Well, if I already made the commitment to stand in your stupid line (like a person who doesn’t know any better & the only other choice was to jump out if line and be even more pissed I didn’t get my banking done, or purchase my lottery tickets, etc.
It may seem the polite thing to say but believe me, it has taken every ounce of patience for me to not be horribly rude to you…..You really aren’t doing me a favour by getting to me (finally) before I have another damned birthday standing here.
My situation is husband of 33 years passed away May 28th 2020 after nine days in ICU in the hospital with medical condition we were unaware of.
A lady I know responded by saying , “I’m so sorry”. She looked at me in my eyes and said, ‘You know, I have no idea why we say that because there is no way I can imagine what you are going through or how you feel’.
I thought that was a very astute thing for this woman to say and realize it was such a hollow sentiment. I thanked her for her realization.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
The uptake and higher octave drives me crazy. Apparently you have not realized how stupid that sounds to the rest if us. Usually the higher octave is saved for the end of a sentence when asking a question – not through the entire sentence – are you related to Alvin and The Chipmunks? If not then please speak like a normal human being
What about the annoying habit some people have of elongating words and using a singsong sort of tone when listing things? i.e:
“so, then I did thiiiiiiis, then I did thaaaaaaat, and I did thaaaaaaaat, and maybe some of thaaaaat”
It boils my piss.
For me, vocal fry is the most irritating human habit I’ve ever encountered, and there’s so much of out there now that I seriously don’t know how I’m going to cope living on this planet if it continues to grow. It seems to be like a virus that some people pick up and may not even realise it. And if you say anything about it or even react to the highly unpleasant sound, you’re an asshole. To say I’m fed up is putting it mildly.
Nailed it!!!
All of those speech patterns are somewhat annoying. But what I actually find the most annoying are people who get annoyed easily. Ironic because then I also get annoyed with myself for being annoyed with other people. I’m not sure why it annoys me so much. Maybe because everyone has annoying habits, so when someone nitpicks about other people, I just hone in on them and notice their annoying habits. 🤔😂
I love when females use vocal fry, it is so hot.
hardly.
I cannot stand the misspelling of loose for lose, or the dropping of t’s and it’s not just millennials. They sound speech impaired as they pretend struggle to pronounce t’s. It’s horrible.
I’ve noticed that too! Impor-ant. People on the news do that all the time.
On a major news network today, the reporter was repeatedly saying “Pu-in” in reference to the Russian leader. On the local news a weather person talked about snow in the
“Mou–ins” . Later there was a cute video introduced showing playful “Ki-ins”.
Hello batfrog,
You’re not going to believe this, but a soft-to-non-existent “d” and “t” in the middle of words is how those of us educated in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s (in New England) were taught was the correct way to speak. We learned from our parents and from our elementary school teachers and our topnotch English teachers in junior high and high school to not emphasize (or sound) the middle “d” and “t” (or “dd” and “tt”).
All of a sudden (or, as I’m hearing these days, “all of sudden” or “all of the sudden”), nearly everyone is exaggerating middle “d’s” and “t’s” that were for many, many years understated, or glided over — or whatever the right word is to describe this current bastardization of American English.
I’ll give you some examples of pronunciations that drive me batty (or battyfroggy):
incorrect: stu-dent
correct: stu(d)(n)t
The tongue touches the roof of the mouth as if it were going to say “d” but the (d) remains silent, and the (n) sound is equally soft. You hear the “t” but it shouldn’t be exaggerated. I know, I know, it sounds incredible to you, doesn’t it!?
incorrect: bi-den
correct: bi(d)(n)
incorrect: pu-tin
correct: pu(t)(n)
incorrect: swe-den
correct: swe(d)(n)
incorrect: jor-dan
correct: jor(d)(n)
(One of my good friends has a niece named “Jordan.” To them, it’s “Jor-dan.” Once I tried to teach my friend how to say Jor(d)(n), but her tongue LITERALLY couldn’t do it!)
The same rule applies to: garden, Eden, hidden, sudden, burden, warden, written, kitten, sweeten, rotten. The list is long.
Contractions that have “d” in the middle of them are also mispronounced:
incorrect: di-dent
correct: di(d)(n)t
incorrect: cou[l]-dent, wou[l]-dent, shou[l]-dent
correct: cou[l](d)(n)t, wou[l](d)(n)t, shou[l](d)(n)t
You can see by my user name that I’m an editor. These days, I feel like I’m editing (in my head) others’ speech more than their writing. Finding this blog and learning that there are people like me who also hear pronunciations that drive them crazy is sure therapeutic.
Thanks, Debbie Grattan and fellow commenters.
Batfrog, here’s my second reply — written even before my first was accepted by the moderator.
I realized two things as soon as I pressed “send”:
(1) I had a typo in my first sentence: This word is spelled “nonexistent” — not “non-existent.”
(2) Your description of the mispronunciations of Putin, mountains and kittens is actually different from what I was describing. I know exactly what you mean. There should be at least a soft (t) or (ntn) or (tt) in those three words. But the reporters you heard leave out those consonants as if they don’t even exist. Yes, that drives me up a wall alongside you. Where did they learn to speak like that?
I TOTALLY agree ….mispronunciations drive me nuts.. my pet peeve is the increasing use of “sh” where it doesn’t belong , for example: STREET become SHTREET…
Yes! Prime example: impor’ant
Liz, I’m so glad I found this forum. I feel good after I read the comments.
Especially the comment you made about dropping t’s. Drives me crazy!!!!
There are scholars I know, educated men and women of all ages who uptalk, as a rule. One of these uptalkers is now a published author. When they lecture or speak publicly, they uptalk 3 or four times in nearly every sentence; it’s incessant and I’m soon going to get the word out to this person somehow.
My question is, how is this book author able to transfer their uptalk speaking over to the printed page? That’s right; they can’t. There is no trace of it in the book.
What does that say about the phenomenon and about this person? Anyone? Thanks
Upspeak seems to be way more prevalent among public speakers than the other irritating voice patterns, in my experience.
Know that this unhelpful habit is also happening with young men every bit as much as it is with women. Even worse, older folks, perhaps trying to be relevant, are picking it up as well; as if it’s contagious! Nothing is more upsetting to me than to hear a 60 y.o. man way over-using upspeak! It’s a plague on par with covid!
Whether I’m heard, heeded or not, I write to the speakers I listen to and ask them to please stop. I reference this blog as well as a couple videos.
The snotty automated phone voice doing nasally vocal fry saying “IIII’mmm sorrrry, I di-ent get that” and “Thank you for your pay-shentzz”. She is not sorry. She is evil and must be stopped.
What is it called when someone elongates the letter “s” at the end of a word? My boss, a dentist, does this when he speaks with patients. The whole staff has noticed it. It sounds so odd. Patients even look at him puzzled when he does it. It’s usually the last word at the end of a sentence ending with “s”. Instead of just saying rests, he says restsssssss.
“Bruh”
What is that?? Is this the most laziest approach you can come up with for saying the word brother? Should you start every sentence using that stupid sound?
“Send it!”
Where? Is the shipping for it free?
“Like, like, like…”
Like, shut up!
Vocal fry? Up pitch? Nothing screams SHEEP like these.
Smacking- like eating fried chicken on the radio or chewing gum is very common. Every time radio man opens his mouth to talk he makes a smacking sound- or loudly sucks in air -annoying!
Yeah, Amber, I understand.
Or how about the “tut” sound of the tongue hitting the roof of the mouth hard and loud between sentences. Not a scolding “tut,” but a “Oh, isn’t what I’m speaking about just so fascinating?” kind of “tut.”
Speakers don’t hear themselves “tutting,” so they have no idea how distracting it can be to the listener. I’ve been tempted to write to one very intelligent woman who frequently “tuts” when she reads her presentations in videos. I’d like to tel her it’s hard for me to concentrate on the meaning of her perfectly spoken words — that is, on the uplifting ideas she’s sharing. I don’t want to hurt her feelings, though. Maybe someone who knows her well will be led to say something to her in a loving way. I hope!
Make that “loudly” instead of “loud” and “tell” instead of “tel.”
If I don’t find and correct my own mistakes, what other editor out there is going to do it for me?
Ok. Jumping in in this:
“Going forward…”. You hear elective officials saying what they promise to do. I’m tired of this phrase. (Actually I’m just tired of their promises.)
The use of “myself,” which is reflexive, instead of “I” (perhaps trying to sound humble). Example: “Debbie and myself were going out…”. Reflexive pronouns are never the subjects of a sentence but only objects of verbs, pronouns, etc.
I’d like to point out, all these patterns whether speech or otherwise are perfect examples of programming in all its glory.
Download the PDF for the Delphi murders and analyze it. I am interested in the speech pattern of the criminal.
People who say “go in” instead of add, or the phrase “go ahead and…..”. Both need to be eradicated from the English language.
I have heard a speech affect that I can’t quite pin down. I’ve looked it up but the closest thing I have found is Uptalk–which this is not exactly. It is when nearly every sentence ends with what sounds like an elongation of the last word in the sentence in combination with may be a bit of Uptalk.
For example:
The other daaaay. I went to the storrrrre. And I bought some grocerieeees. Then I went hommme. Then I made dinnerrrr. It was pizzaaaa.
Each sentence makes the act of whatever is being described sound sound like it was either exhausting or exasperating. I hear it everywhere. In conversation. At conferences. On TV. During podcasts. On the news. At work. It seems to be especially common on NPR. My own kids do it and even they can’t explain what it is–just that all their friends do it too.
I sympathize, as I’m hearing it too. I find myself wincing more and more as I listen to NPR, for example. It seems to me that it’s not just the elongation with a splash of uptalk that’s so unsettling, but a key ingredient is the general *tone* behind the length of the syllables, which sounds bored and/or inauthentic and/or impersonal. And this tone is active throughout the sentence, no matter the length or pitch of the sound; the elongation and the rise in pitch just convey it more emphatically. It makes for a voice that cannot do justice to serious or compelling dimensions of our experience. What results is a travesty of all things sacred.
Oh my thank you NPR drives me nuts. The heavily inflected speech pattern is the liberal elite set you find on Ivy League colleges and coastal cities. It makes me want to break stuff. Never mind they talk about racism every 5 minutes.
I have no particular ax to grind politically nor do I feel this is limited to NPR as it seems to be everywhere. I hear it across the political/social/cultural spectrum. It’s something that seems to be taking over clear and effective speech in general much in the same way as vocal fry and uptalk. I understand that language is dynamic and evolves over time but it is particularly distressing to listen to a serious topic being discussed by experts in the field when it sounds like a a bunch of bored and disinterested teenagers swapping stories about the party they went to over the weekend.
Imagine experiencing racism every five minutes.
If it’s nasally and annoying it might “vocal-fry”.
I did a search for t glottalization, and it looks like I am in a minority, but nobody mentioned t’s being dropped at the END of a word. this drives me crazy. anybody 50 and over never does it.
so, heart is pronounced “harr” you can barely hear the t. glottalization in the middle of word does not bother me because a word like button, it is almost as if you have to make a point to pronounce the t, so the “buhhon” is not a form of “acdting cool” but more a form of not wanting to go the whole way with the t. But on the other hand, I get the feeling that the “in thing” with the milleniuls (sp?) is to be cool and drop the t at the end because well.. that is what everyone else is doing. they remind me of sheep. anyone else?
It’s basically white people, especially girls trying to sound African american because they think it’s cool.
Buh-en for button or impor-ent instead of important. It is horrible sounding.
UGH – I cannot stand this and I hear it everyone. One commentator talked about Puh en for Putin. Nuts.
Omg yes that exactly. Drives me nuts.
People who do this on purpose are just dumb but I’ve never heard of that. With that out of the way, this is an accent and not a speech pattern. As far as I know it’s exclusive to Colorado. People just don’t enunciate the t in any word here.
Americans saying “did good” instead of “did well”. It has become so accepted into the vernacular of American English that is all you hear on TV now.
It sounds very uncouth and makes me shiver everytime I hear it.
Thre are two parts to this. First, there is often what I think is a semiintentional conflation between “do well” and “do good”; the idea that, by doing well on a thing, you also did a good thing.
The second is that the uncouthness, as you put it, is part of the point: in fact, I more often hear “you *done* good” (from people who would never in normal speech use the wrong tense of verb that way). It’s a colloquialism, mimicing old-time rural moral/cultural touchstones such as western movie characters; it’s a (usually not entirely serious) conneciton to the idea of fulfilling old-time values.
Overuse of the “F” word, using it in various ways such as “He’s dumb af”, Effin this and effin that (see Reddit for many examples of this over use of unnecessary vulgarity). They use it as a normal word now, not as a curse word!!
And any use of the hipster geek slang words such as “dank” or “yeet” makes my skin crawl and induces an urge to punch the person who used this language right in the nose. Or yank their hair out by grabbing their stupid looking man buns…
And another one used by predominately Canadians but also some Americans is “these ones”….”I like these ones the best”…..WHY NOT JUST SAY ” I like THESE the best”???? “ones” does not fit in the context of the sentence!!
And a recent addition to the dumbed down parrots’ collection of annoying speech habits and the one that seems to have replaced “right?” when agreeing with someone’s statement is “Yup”……I’m seeing this everywhere now, especially on all social media. It drives me nuts!! Why not just say: “Yep” or Yeah or Yes. “Yup” just makes the person sound like a complete idiot to me. JUST. STOP.
Yup; those ones you mention are the f’ing worse!!! lol
How about an unnecessary “t” in a word? “Else” becomes “Eltse,” or “once” becomes “wants.”
Thanks for your interesting article! A question: Has anyone here felt overwhelmed by hearing certain British speech. Specifically when a Brit is conversing with someone the last few words of the other person are immediately repeated, echoed, parroted, by the Brit. This habit is used overly much, always enthusiastically, at the start of almost every sentence, to show agreement. I have become so exasperated by hearing this, especially on British YouTube, that I mute it or unsubscribe. Also, the constant excessive sympathetic interjections: “mmm, yesss, oh I know, isn’t that right”… these just seem over done … looking for approval or permission, trying to remain agreeable but comes across as sycophantic. Just venting here. Thank you for listening.
I’m a Brit and this has been a common trait for many years and there is a name for it – echolalia.
My next door neighbour does it during every conversation. You may say “I was walking in the park” And she will say “The park” as you finish the sentence. I think it stems from wanting to show that you are paying attention to what the other person is saying. The trouble with these things is that they soon become a tick and the person doesn’t even realise they are doing it.
I have really enjoyed this article and the videos were great, so thanks to Debbie.
My own personal bugbear at the moment is the word bless. For the past few years my sister has dropped it into her speech whenever she mentions any other person. She will say “John didn’t have a good day, yesterday, bless him” She’s not alone, all the people she works with do it too, but she has even started putting it into every text message. It is infuriating.
Rant over, it was good to get that off my chest
There is a new trend I have noticed and I don’t know the name of it….
They uptalk in the middle of a sentence and come back down but the uptalk is really pronounced.
Does anyone know what this is called?
Why say “at this point in time” instead of simply “now”?
I’m baffled and annoyed whenever I hear those five words used instead of one.
As a non-native English speaker, this type of pomposity is a daily irritation.
“At this point in time” and “out of context” were introduced into the political world during the Nixon hearings by one of his “henchmen”, attorney John Erlichman – usually delivered with a pompous sneer. Unfortunately, both sayings have stayed on, and on…. and it’s probably why I didn’t like USPS director Louis DeJoy on sight, as he looked so much like him – and had the same sneer.
“is is” “The thing is is that…”
“pre-planning” What does planning mean? Actually, the use of “pre-” is often irrelevant (“pre-programmed” “pre-established”)
Well if “pre” is the “before” stage, the makes absolute perfect sense to use it before “planning”. For example, I’m currently in the pre-planning stage of a garage rebuild. I haven’t planned it, but I am researching topics on how to plan my plan. Now, you tell me. Which is easier on the ears; pre-planning or I’m planning to plan?
Great discussion. Here are some of my current peeves:
1. A public radio personality making a loud gasp prior to speaking each sentence. I realize people need to breathe when they talk, but the loud, gasping intake of air, once noticed, becomes the dominant thing I hear.
2. Someone speaking who simultaneously sounds as if he has a lisp, his tongue is too big for his mouth and his mouth is half full of saliva. When I hear this person, I am forced to change the station.
3. The tagline, “I’m just saying.” Someone makes what he/she considers to be a very important point and then downgrades their commitment to that statement by ending with the qualifying phrase, “I’m just saying.”
4. Trying to force agreement with what is to follow by using “Look…”, or something similar. Joe Biden did this throughout his campaign and continues now that he’s in office. I can’t count how many times he’s used “Look…”, “Here’s the thing…”, and “Here’s the deal…”. Interestingly, use of the word “look” as a precursor to a statement, along with “wait” and several others, are noted by interrogators as clues that what follows might be less than truthful.
5. The use of dis, dat, dese, dem and dose in place of this, that, these, them and those. Unfortunately, I hear these mostly (though not totally) from African American people when being interviewed on TV and I wonder if they realize how this feeds engrained stereotypes.
6. The use of “goes” and “went” instead of “says” and “said”.
7. This final one makes me turn off the radio as soon as I hear it happening. It seems to be exclusively linked to NPR, though maybe others have heard it elsewhere. One or two NPR hosts are attempting to tell a human interest story. While doing so, they splice together hundreds of single- or several-word phrases of themselves and the person being interviewed, resulting in a jarring narrative that is excruciating to listen to.
Host One: “Then Bill’s family moved to Alabama…”
Interviewee: “to Mobile…”
Host Two: “in the early 1900’s…”
Interviewee: “1908…”
Why not just let the interviewee say, “My family moved to Mobile, Alabama in 1908”?
The hosts’ dialogue is also punctuated with long, dramatic pauses that cause a sentence to take twice as long to say than it would be by any normal person. I take it someone at NPR thinks this is creative writing/storytelling. It isn’t. It’s nauseating. Regrettably, it’s becoming more common across their programming. I forced myself to listen to one entire program because the subject matter was interesting, but it would have been even more absorbing if it hadn’t been delivered as part of a creative clip show. To NPR: if what the interviewee is saying is worth hearing, let us hear it in THEIR voice, not yours.
thanks for your extremely insightful comments, Jackson. I have to giggle, as this post was originally motivated by listening to the speech patterns heard specifically on NPR. Seems some of them are annoying to more than just a few of us.
I can’t believe that not one person has commented on the ignorance, laziness, and annoyance of people using the word “AT” to complete sentences and questions all the time! It seems like everyone from news reporters to preachers are doing it! Am I the last person in the world that just can’t bring myself to saying it? Ex: “I just don’t know where people are at.”
I agree violently with the NPR thing. That last example of splicing is a horrible pattern I first noticed on This American Life, then it spread to RadioLab and now is everywhere and all young “talent” sounds like Ira Glass wannabes. Needless to say I don’t listen to NPR much anymore unless I want to shout at the radio. It’s horrific. (aside from my increasing alienation with the left)
I am specifically replying to your #2! I have noticed this trend, and it seems to be combined with over enunciating words…as is done in ASMR. However, I am referring to people who are talking this way and not making an ASMR recording. Oh I find it annoying!!
It’s not just Biden. Please leave your partisanship out of the discussion.
Here’s one that I’ve been hearing more and more the last couple of years and it’s really starting to annoy me.
Starting a sentence or phrase with “Hey”.
e.g. “We can ask them to oblige, and they may respond with: ‘Hey, this would be a great deal for us'”.
Argh…drives me nuts.
Hey is a super great word
I mean, right? I’m jus sayin
‘I know! Right?’ When I say something to another person. Or just ‘riiight?!’ It sounds like they are asking me, to agree with them, for agreeing with me.
‘Now, with that being said’ drives me crazy. I hear it on TV all the time. A co-worker of mine says it in her long story about anything.
‘And stuff’ at the end of every sentence. While watching an interview with Buster Douglas on TV, I counted 17 times he said it before finally changing the channel. I had a client who said constantly while in my styling chair.
I asked someone once why he thought people speak this way. His answer made so much sense. ‘It is a sense of belonging to speak the same way as others. Just like dressing the same way, needing to wear the latest fashion.’
Here’s what driving me crazy right now. Who sent out the memo to all newscasters to start using this very annoying speech pattern:
Simone Biles, she has withdrawn from Olympic competition. Why use the word “she”?
Space-X, it’s scheduled to take off this Friday. Why insert “it’s”?
Shark attacks, they seem to be happening with surprising frequency this summer.
Why “they”?!
Tropical storm Henry, its path is bringing it closer to the Texas coast this morning. Why “its!
It you listen to any major U.S. network news cast, either National or local, it won’t be two minutes before you hear an example of this. Hoya Kotb, on the Today Show, for example, is a major offender with this. I don’t know what it’s called, but where did it come from, how did everyone seemingly start doing it at once, and WHY?!?
I’ve noticed this pattern also Cindy. It’s maddening. Something tells me most commenters in this thread are GenX or older.
GenX-er here, and I think you’re probably right! My high-school English teachers encouraged a real respect for language, both spoken and written. They had, I believe, more pedagogical freedom and fewer worries about the potential for upset parents. They were absolute professionals, and I remember them fondly.
Later, in college, professors assumed that students understood basic grammar and usage. Once in a while, they might shame us for an obvious lapse. Yes–shame! We survived. It was their way of letting us know we owed ourselves more than to speak and write badly.
By the way, is anyone else exasperated by the more recent speech tic of emphasizing the “d” in words such as “garden” and “student”? Instead of pronouncing these “GAR-den” and “STU-dent,” with a momentary glide over the “d,” people are now using the childish-sounding (to my ears, at least) “Gar-DEN” and “Stu-DENT,” with a weird, isolating pressure on the “d.” I’ve noticed this more often just in the last couple of years, and it always makes me wince.
And then there’s the nails-on-chalkboard little-girl voice used by so many otherwise smart, well-educated women, very few of whom have voices that are naturally so high-pitched. Little-girl voice is evidently being used with a purpose, although not one I can figure out. I just wish it would stop.
P.S.: No NPR for me, anymore, for all the reasons detailed in this thread.
Avid NPR fan here but otherwise agree, especially the part about the “d” emphasis. Also, remember grammar trees? So useful.
Let me add…
Yeah, no. That isn’t an answer.
Ima … how can that mean “I am going to”?
Gonna.
Boughten (as in purchased)
Ta … meaning “to”. Going ta the bank.
Understand that Shakespearian English, Victorian, Elizabethan and all other versions, including our 60s and 70s hippie language, always change, but we hope that as we are educated and mentored, better speech will win.
Do you hear others or yourself say Sundy, Mundy,Toosdy, Wensdy, Thursdy, Frydy, Saturdy? Or here’s one my Sister hates – it’s simply ‘no problem’. Or the lack of empathy when anyone say ‘sorry’ or ‘sorry about that’, and it used in the most idiotic, incongruent, and shallow way. Or this morning when a handyman said many, many sentences and it always ended the same way – just simply saying my 1st name after each and every sentence. Those who do that are strangers and in the business world, and they feel entitled. And what’s really bad are those who talk in circles, even in many circles.
The news reporters on our local news station start many sentences with “Now, …..” For example, “Now, we don’t know when the governor will sign the bill into law.” But they don’t mean “now” in terms of time. It sounds to me like an extraneous word. The other one that I find strange is that many people (or maybe it is just fellow Christians?) say “love on” instead of just “love.” For example, “We just want to love on people” rather than “We just want to love people.”
I think “love ON” makes it more active. You can love someone, yes, but to love ON someone conveys to me a meaning of active praise or other love language being engaged in. If someone were to say to you “go love on your kid,” that doesn’t mean “love them more,” that means go TELL them how much you love them, praise them for good things they’ve done, give them a hug, etc.
Can anyone tell me who started the craze of beginning a conversation with “I mean”? It reaffirms what I heard many years ago, “Television will rot your brain.” Using “I mean “ on television is perpetuating ignorance. It’s use is in conflict with it’s use to clarify . This ranks with using “Used to” in conversation and in print. What happened with “I previously “ or “I formerly”?
I love this article. I’m 40- so I admit to using some of these, but many drive me bonkers, especially at work. I find trends in speech/vocal affectations fascinating. I agree with what was said about NPR. In fact, I hear “sort of” in interviews constantly and while I’m guessing it’s usually unintentional, it does sound like an attempt at sounding “sophisticated”.
I love picking on t-glottalization. There’s a Clinton Street in my hometown that is now “CLIN-ehn”.
I’ve also loved making fun of Madonna’s overuse of “sort of” ever since she adopted her imaginary British accent.
Sports announcers are destroying the language; my newest pet peeve is the increasingly common use of the word “that” instead of “the”. Example (watching the Olympics on TV): “He has that tenacity”, instead of “he has tenacity”. I see and hear all the time and it drives me nuts…
All of this is fake colloquialism by media to make audiences feel they’re “having a beer” with their media—so the audiences connect with and stay with the media. It seems to give the media more influence.
“You know” and “I mean” etc. are repeated nonstop to subliminally lull and “connect with” the audience.
Another annoying one not in the comments is “got” and “gotten” – “I’ve got ….” “He’s got….” Just say “He has.”
It’s not intentional. They are as dumb as everyone else.
I mentor college students and the most annoying thing they all say, irrespective of intelligence, is “like” at least five times per sentence; how do I a) broach this with them, and b) help them understand that in the real world this speech pattern makes them sound utterly stupid?
Boy, Nigel, I wish I had some great advice for this. Having a teenage college student myself, I understand this dilemma. I rememeber, as someone her age, using “you know” as some form of space saver, and being told by parents and others to try and stop using it so much. Just another annoying habit that for some will be able to break, when they decide it’s important to do so, but others may have it ingrained, and then “suffer” whatever consequences it brings. They talk amongst themselves so much, that it feels normal to them…until they move out of their peer sphere. Time will tell.
I’m old, so I can state authoritatively that most on this list of annoying speech habits have been around for a long time, in fact as long as I can remember.
I recall an item on the NPR program “All Things Considered” in the EARLY 90s about the “rising inflection? At the end of a sentence?” thing (and, as illustrated, often prematurely ending a sentence that “actually wasn’t? Really finished yet?”)
New “to me” – and I have grandchildren ranging from preschoolers to early 20s – are the following:
– Ending a sentence with “so…yeah.” Which is quite frankly one of the more annoying habits. EXAMPLE: “I got a call back from this employer offering me the job. The pay is $18 an hour, and I’d start on next Monday, so…yeah.” (My 18-yo granddaughter, recently).
– The overuse of superlative adjectives. For example you’re not just “happy to be here today” you’re “SUPER happy.” It’s “super annoying.” Corollary: being “excited” about even the most routine, long-anticipated events, such as the press release I saw last week about a new software upgrade that the developer was “super excited to announce.” That was actually in the written press release. Sheesh.
I am old as well. It’s very sad that today’s NPR is one of the worst offenders in terms of annoying speech. I often feel I’m listening to a high school journalism project. I believe the situation was much better years ago, but I probably believe that because I’m old.
Walter — thank for posting this. I thought it was just me getting cranky. Extremely cranky. So tired of having to shut off the radio when it gets to be too much
“Yeah” at the beginning of a question that was not yes-or-no.
On the radio today:
Interviewer asks, “Why is the current focus on companies like Exxon?”
Young woman interviewee: “Yeah, so Exxon is a high-profile…”
Mostly, young women seem to do this. And they do it a lot. Start the answer with a “yeah.”
I love these comments! My personal pet peeves include the use of “right?” at the end of every sentence, and the glottal stop (in the U.S., at least; the UK version has never bothered me). I get far more hung up on language misuse, though. There are two in particular that drive me insane: “different than” and “misnomer.”
“Different than” makes no sense. The word “than” demands a comparison of degrees, e.g., something is hotter/louder/more annoying than something else. If something is different from something else, “from” is the only word that works. I understand some countries use “to” instead of “from,” and I don’t know if that’s longstanding or new. In the U.S., though, the phrase is “different from.” When I hear “than,” I want to scream.
“Misnomer” is now used when what is really meant is “misconception.” These are two different words with different meanings.
So, after reading literally every single comment, I am pondering the question; is it ironic that we’re all complaining about an enormous range of vocal variants (or variations?) that the odds are every one of those comments is directly speaking to another comment directed indirectly to another comment and so on? If you really sit down and read every word it’s a fascinating phenomenon. I mean, I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like it grammatically in my entire 43 years, on this planet anyway.
p.s.
my grammar and punctuation was intended as sarcasm but the rest was serious. I felt as though I learned something today. This past year has seemed a bit empty at times when social isolation has become the “new normal”. We all must remember to keep our minds sharp and active. I believe it to be the key to longevity. Anywho……..
you unwittingly mentioned another pet peeve: the increasingly and persistent misuse of the word “literally”…
The one I cant stand is S-backing where they say shhtreet, shhhtrike, dishhhtraction,
I’ve noticed that, too. If you can’t say it right how can you spell it correctly. Also have you noticed that many reporters and tv personalities will repeat words over and over like that that that that,,,and, and, and and to to to to which is now ta ta ta ta (example…they were going ta ta ta be there on Friday) etc. Speech patterns seem to trend quite quickly. Back in the day you would be fired for delivering news that way.
Try watching your house of representatives. Or any gov. related ‘programming’ for that matter. Relative to a stutter. Also, when those hands start flying around without any meaning whatsoever, I’d like to put a muzzle on them. I wonder how they translate this behavior to professionalism.
PS: “At the end of the day”…….It’s just that! No other meaning. Thank pres Trump for that on. Now I have to go throw up.
Me too! That one drives me crazy! Plus, “at the end of the day”. UGH!!!
Ha, I just posted that then read yours
Change out. As in change the sheets or change a lightbulb. I first heard this on a home decorating tv show. It grated on my ears. I thought it must be a local thing. Now I hear that everywhere.
No more changing anything. They must be changed Out. So annoying.
The author ends a sentence that I assume was not a quote of someone else, with these words;
“much more easily”. Good English dictates brevity as a virtue; much, is redundant here.
I just heard a lady doing a commercial on TV who pronounced entertainment as intertainment.
Also, I heard earlier on a My Pillow commercial a similar error which I failed to write down.
It may have been the one I just quoted.
Lately, I have noticed by newscasters and others on TV the word expecially, which of course does not exist. This seems to be catching on, even by some senior respected news folks.
How about “pandimik” (apparently meaning “pandemic,) “mimber” (apparently meaning “member,”) and oh god, “space” (apparently derived from “safe space”).
I saw a book tv author, a Harvard history professor good lord, on C-SPAN yesterday who said “sort of” in every spoken sentence. Are they insecure, manipulative, dishonest, sans capacity for original, independent thought????
Was the Mike Lindell one, “That’s why I curated MyPillow”? Drives me crazy every time.
These are just regional inflections, not errors per se.
For example, I’m from the southeastern USA. We don’t really distinguish the “middle short e” and “middle short I” in speech.
For example, in Alabama, “pen” and “pin” are pronounced the same way. It’s just a dialect difference.
I think ‘curating a product’, in the business world -in a nutshell- is a process to ‘create a unique product for a specific demographic’. Also a curator ‘oversees, or manages’ a business, or ‘keeper of a collection’ for example, at a museum.
(He is not mispronouncing ‘created’)
I looked it up, for I was curious too!
No, you are hearing maybe a regional pronunciation. I say borough as burrow and mirror as mirror, not meara. I have heard meara and arrow instead of error.
The most annoying speech patterns are those of condescending people educated beyond thier intellect.
Real News (Host): When do you think we can fully re-open schools, 5 days/week?
Guest (author/pundit/wannabe politician): “Sure,” “so,” “moving forward,” we “obviously” want to first see what reopening “would look like,” then secure the “strategic infrastructure” to “sort of” make that happen in this “space” (apparent reference to “safe space”).
Real News Host: You used the term “space” repeatedly. Can you tell the audience exactly to what you are referring in your immediately preceding use of the word space? Should school lectures take place on the moon, or just remotely via satellite?
Guest (uncomfortable silence)
Real News Host; Also, many of our viewers are likely wondering what
caused your repeated use of the vague term, “space,” without a specific
context or discernible link to the discussion. Can you tell the audience
whether your repeated use of the term “space” is conscious, or simply
an unconscious parroting of other pundits? Viewers would be fascinated
to gain your insight on this phenomenon.
Guest (uncomfortable silence)
Real News Host: In the last five minutes of the segment, for the viewers
benefit, I wish to now address your repeated use of the term “so”
at the start of your answer to each question I asked, and also your
use of the phrase “sort of” in each statement you made…
Aha, I see what you did there. Kudos. Right!? I wonder if………nah, prolly not.
I often hear young women in their 20-40s, speak in a monotone for a few words and then raise the pitch to a a bit higher monotone level for a few words before ending sentence. This occurs a lot when listing items. Annoying!
Listing speak! It’s not even with lists. I think that the person doing it wants to signal that they would have more to say about a thing but they really do not have any more ammunition. They are also signaling their frustration that they cannot complete their thoughts. Finally, it is a bid to keep the floor. My goodness! They also do this in Germany, quite memorably. My goodness, there are annoying speech patterns in every language, and by sex. Or is it gender?
And in setting forth a list of things that are “alternatives,” rather than saying “whether it’s A or B or C…” they say “whether it’s A, whether it’s B, whether it’s C…”
People have sex. Nouns have gender. 😉
Why isn’t anyone saying “to” anymore? Out of protest, I might start writing the word out as “ta,” since that is how people are pronouncing the word. We drink when we hear Emily Bazelon and her cronies say “ta” on the Political Gabfest.
I’ve noticed an increase in the pronunciation of “to” as “tyoo” but it seems more frequent when the speaker—they seem to be mostly female—elongates the word, perhaps suggesting that it’s said when the speaker is having a moment of reflection or being pensive; that it is becoming universal on television news and commentary is undeniable…and is becoming an annoyance
In Australia we get really annoyed with well spoken presenters on TV pronouncing t as d, eg very impordant and cute kidden. Credibility goes out the window.
Really? Because anybody who over pronounces their t’s and s’s sounds annoying to me.
i agree, it drives me insane , they sound like 4 year olds
I agree with you but why do they do it .. ?
Adding an additional, unnecessary syllable to certain words for emphasis: “no” becomes “no-ah” and “hello” turns into “hello-ah”.. as though the speaker just had to get rid of that extra bit of air, and vocalize it.
Yes!! This is a huge trend on YouTube right now and it’s quite annoying.
I would never have understood your point until I saw a commercial during which a delighted homeowner, commenting on a home makeover, said (the most overused word in English as) “…amazing—gah!”
YES! I was thinking that I was the only hearing the incorrect use of the schwa during a recent newscast. Every second word she spoke that ended in a consonant had that ‘ah’ at the end of it. It is not just annoying, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. I have heard several other women speak this way and it grates on my nerves. Who taught them to speak? I have heard infants using words like this when they are learning, but to hear it coming from the mouth of a grown woman?
I understand that enunciation is a part of the job they do, but to over pronounce a word by adding an extra vowel does not sharpen the words; it dulls the wit.
Very annoying indeed! This seems to be spreading among news reporters., e.g., “One person was killed-ah near Denver’s airport…”
To my ear it seems to often come before the word as in this example — “… dragging him by his wrists ah-down a hallway….”
I agree with many of the annoying speech discussed here. Another more recent pattern I hear most often by women is speaking in the low register of their voice. Very annoying.
Absolutely! If you’ve ever heard Jedediah Vila, she does it ALL the time. Very annoying habit for a smart lady!!
Sorry, but I’m not pronouncing button as “butt-ton”. To me, that sounds idiotic and uppity, not to mention the hyper pronunciation. Some words are not meant to have all the letters pronounced. Does anyone say FebRuary without sounding ridiculous?
Either “Feb-roo-ary” or “Feb-yoo-ary “ is acceptable.
Please. I DO say February. It has an r in it (two , to be pendantic) and I am not a child.
Agreed, Paula. I think it’s lazy not to pronounce words correctly. That’s “probably” (not proaly) one reason kids can’t spell them correctly later.
I, too, pronounce both ‘r’ s in February. And I give a slight nod to the ‘d’ in Wednesday. But ‘of-ten’ sets my teeth on edge. No one says ‘sof-ten’ or ‘lis-ten’ or ‘plumb-er’. Why should we voice the ‘t’ in ‘often’? It’s far from the only silent letter in spoken English. Worchestershire sauce anyone?
No, thanks. However, if you have some Worcestershire sauce, I wouldn’t say no… 😉
“Food” more and more often is being pronounce “feud”. Can’t find a term for my 2nd pet peeve– listing options with an affected inflection for each as in …. watch a MOvie, read a BOok, eat a COOkie…
Ooops! You forgot the most annoying example of all: that of swallowing the “t” I’m the middle of a word, together with a glottal stop. For example, “mou- uhn,” instead of “moun-tain.” The first example makes full-grown adults sound like a toddler who can’t yet say his/her “t’s.”
Omg YES!! I abhor this glottal stop. Button, mountains Stoooop with the glottal stop!
I’ll sum up.
Hearing Americans and Britons speak is psychological torture.
Tell me I’m wrong.
You’re not wrong.
What about using the words “at all”, at the end of a sentence.
Have you got any money, at all.
Annoying and completely unnecessary.
NPR must be making a conscious decision to allow all of this. They clearly make a conscious decision to not have Black announcers speaking in the dominant Black American Vernacular English. They don’t even allow their white announcers in Texas to sound like they’re from Texas!
Maybe this has already been mentioned, but I find it a bit irksome when someone emphasizes the obvious by saying, “Hello!” As in, “Everyone knows the Earth is round. I mean, hello!” But even more bothersome is the growing ubiquity of “Thank you having me” in response to a host or interviewer saying “Thank you” to a guest at the end of a segment, or even in response to “Thank you for joining us” at the beginning of their conversation. I long to hear a host say “You’re welcome” in response. It’s come to the point that I’m grateful when a guest says “You’re welcome” at the end.
The sad part about the first phrase (“Uh, hello….everyone knows the Earth is round”) is that anyone has to even say it at all in the 21st century. Objective reality, for some folks, must be something that just happens to others.
I am now annoyed by the nasal and elongated pronunciation of “me”, voiced by women. Since I watch a lot of network tv, I hear this and other abominations on commercials, especially. There is a good example of a migraine remedy commercial intoned by Khloe Kardashian. It’s on Noom commercials, too. There’s always something!
Agree! And also SORREY, instead of saying sorry…
It sounds so phony .
This is a difference due to where one was raised to speak. Brits will say Sorrey, and Americans will say sorry. Sadly, we all need to bite our tongues. Someone above grits their teeth at Americans and Brits speaking. I have to bite my tongue and let off steam when I hear Australians speak. Great people, but, my goodness, that is a difficult accent for me. Thank goodness I stopped listening to American mainstream news with all their Aussie employees. Sorrey and sorry.
Initially I read your comment as a knock on the Canadian pronunciation of “sorry”. I saw it as SORE-ree. I agree though, like the tattoo girl on the Twix commercial that spells NO REGERTS and then says “Sawree” in that whiny sarcastic voice.
Ah. I stand self-corrected. Re-reading your article I see your use of annoying phrases was intentional — and very effective. I was seriously annoyed 🙂
This collection would be much funnier if the written intro didn’t include a sentence beginning “I mean …”
It’s one of my many pet peeves in newscaster-speak, and I hear this one all the time – especially from Rachel Martin on NPR.
You sound as ignorant as the people you’re skewering.
The pervasive use of hypophora, mostly in spoken media, is more than annoying to me! Please don’t waste time and effort with a question you immediately answer yourself – just jump in and explain the issue and your opinion about it! I’m not an imbecile who is unable to follow a connected train if thought!
One of my pet peeve: Someone who always speaks the -ah at the end of there sentence. Its like an italian accent, but not that exactly cuz i can resist the italian english accent, but not this habit my friends do cuz i know theyre not italian. My friends who do these habits, they do this not just in english language, but also in our native language. For example, when they pronounce the word “eight” they say “eigh-tah” just pronouncing the last letter. Even in filipino words like “palapag” they’ll say “palapag-gah'”the gah sounds like when you pronounce the letter G. They do this do the last letter of the last word of the their sentence. I just wanna know what’s the reason behind it so i can try to stop being annoyed hahaha
You and me both. I was actually googling, trying to find if this type of (annoying!) speech pattern had a name, because someone in my house started doing it and they are driving me crazy! And that is how I found your comment… lol!
The ending gah sound, as in reading-gah drives me nuts. It’s my second or third. The other tying vote is dropping the t, as stated above or over pronouncing the t to make up for the cur-an, moun-an folk.
The number one ear-bleeding one is shtraight down the shtreet there are theesh trees and a shtop shign.
Thank you! Certain podcasts have become unlistenable due to the excessive use of -gah, and -ayuh.
I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately and obviously, most of them have commercials. However, I’ve noticed a horrible trend, especially on Parcast, to have females doing commercials who sound like babies. They have this childish high pitched baby voice and it’s like stabbing my ears with bamboo skewers. I immediately have to fast forward, which defeats the whole purpose of advertising. I don’t know how these people get voice over jobs and why anyone would use them. Aren’t there any metrics showing that people fast forward when they come on?
Don’t get me started on the vocal fry. It’s pervasive with men and women. I can’t keep track of the number of very interesting podcasts with important messages that I’ve had to turn off because of the horrible vocal fryyyyyyyy.
The sad thing about podcasters is that they have not taken any diction or public speaking classes. They want profit without first investing in professionalism, imo.
Love this article and the comments! I have taught communication for three decades and address all of these practices with success in helping my young adult students understand how to code switch between casual and more business contexts. But, over the past few years students have become increasingly reproachful as if I am purposefully attacking their generation. Further, it seems that engaging in these practices seems to indicate a greater authenticity for Gen Z and Millennials. Profeasionally, it comes down to efficiency and economy not to waste talk time with meaningless utterances or distractions.
thanks Rebecca for chiming in with your comment from your perspective as an educator/coach. I would agree, that often, any form of critique, even for improvement in future and in business, is often dismissed, misplaced, and scoffed at by a younger generation that has grown up with a “trophy” for participation for anything they do, and often getting passing grades and remarks to send them on, without actually teaching them how to LEARN and QUESTION things. I am thankful for people like you, who are still standing for some standards in a young society that is so quick to discard and dismantle anything that seems to be inconvenient or in any way challenging to their accepted, and often sub-par standards. As a mother of 2 teens, I can certainly relate. Maybe it is something that every generation deals with, so perhaps it’s just the age, life experience and maturity that needs to be there before common sense advice can sink in. But perhaps it is also a societal takeover of inferior standards that will continue to decline. I hope that is not the case.
Agreed, Debbie! I am so happy that I found this website! I am also a teacher and am perplexed by the lack of vocabulary and sloppy use of language that I hear every day, everywhere, and by many!
Thank you, Rebecca. On point commentary.
I realize it’s really too early to be voting for “Most Annoying for 2021”, but this one’s definitely been frosting my butt. It goes this way.
A reporter asks a politician something like, “Do you support the bill before congress that blah, blah blah [whatever the details]”. Now it’s bad enough that nine times out of ten, the politician decides to answer some other question that (s)he deems more appealing. But I find it truly obnoxious that every other sentence (or more) begins with the word “Look”. As in:
Reporter: Do you favor wearing masks in public to help slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2?
Politician: Look, we in my state believe that those people working in the aerospace industry are important. And look, we…yak, yak, yak.”
I heard one person this past weekend start literally every response with, “Look…”.
Hey, buddy – if you don’t stop telling me to “look”, I’ll just have to decline to listen.
Whenever I hear someone begin a statement with “Look,” I long to interrupt and say, “I’m looking.”
I forgot about another sentence I hate,
“Have a good one!”
What happened to “Have a good day/afternoon/evening/morning “?
When I hear someone at a store or restaurant say something else instead of “Have a good one!” I thank them for not being like the rest of the robots.
Who started this “Have a good one!” trend anyway?
Vocal fry irritates the hell out of me!
Also the use of “words” kiddo and doggo.
And who started everything being super???
Super annoying!
I honestly want to slap the crap out of people who super abuse the word super!
The over use of the word like doesn’t bother me too much. Probably because I was born in the 70’s and obviously grew up in valley girl 80’s. I’ve only been annoyed once by the over use of the word like. I simply changed the channel on my tv.
It’s good to know my husband and I aren’t the only ones who feel this way about how people are speaking lately.
I work for a large tech company in the SF Bay Area and I can attest that uptalk, unfortunately, is more pervasive than ever. I’ve noticed the inflection is often followed by movement, such as a slight head tilt, nod, hands, or shift of the eyes, presumably as an emphasis. I’ve also noticed uptalk transcends position and demographics. It’s almost excusable (almost) to hear uptalk from an entry level early 20-something, however, I’m really not sure how a middle aged VP becomes an uptalker. This has brought me to believe that uptalk is contrived and not a natural progression of linguistics.
Also on the rise – “Yah, Yah” to express approval, agreement, excitement.
I have two.
As Ted brought up a few posts up: the ubiquitous use of the words “sort of” by media drives me nuts!
For example as heard by a newscaster recently:
“A major part of the Biden plan is to ‘sort of’ prioritize pandemic assistance.”
Why not just be brave and make a direct statement without the ‘sort of’ timidity?
Second one: the pin/pen merger. This seems to be a dialect issue primarily in the U.S. South, but the writing implement “pen” is pronounced “pin”, as the number “ten” is pronounced “tin!”
I was convinced I was the only one who noticed the (extremely annoying) uptick of use with the word “right” in conversation. I can’t decide which I detest more- vocal fry or “right”. I’ve forgone many a great podcast topic due to vocal fry or overuse of “right”. Thanks for acknowledging this- I don’t feel so insane anymore.
Allison – I have to chuckle at your comment, since just last night, while watching one of the football playoff games, my husband was getting quite annoyed at Tony Romo’s continuous use of the word “right?” uptick included, while commentating. You’re not insane. Just observant.
“It’s a good question.. uuuh-eem.. if we look at the sort’ve.. cultural implications.. implications.. we we find that people.. generally are all victims of being annoying.”
Good to know I am not the only person being annoyed by the way women robot-speak to the latest trend. The letter “A” seems to be the guiding light. Awesome and absolutely. Everything is now amazing. The only thing more annoying is the continuation of the last syllable in a series of items. For example, “I have to walk my doggggg, pick up the kidddds, and go grocery shoppinnnng. Please shut up!!!
Yes. I heard a woman on NPR listing causes of something and at the end of each item her voice went up. She dragged out the word and pitched it higher. Try listing the garnishes you can add to a hamburger ( tomato, lettuce, onion, etc ) without going up in pitch with each word. So many people cannot do it. This is what annoys me and I am a woman.
I agree – I cannot stand the fact that 90% of the population is now using the work awesome in a context and place that has nothing to do with it’s actual meaning. A proper use example is: Parenting is an awesome responsibility. An improper use is saying that everything that you feel is great, is awesome.
I also cannot stand everyone using the word “Amazing” to describe everything that is good. Amazing this, and amazing that – PLEASE STOP NOW!
And everything is an “experience” – this is a great millennial buzzword.
And last but certainly NOT least, saying the work “right” after every other sentence – this makes me feel physically nauseated.
My biggest pet peeve is, still, the overuse of like. I also loathe when people pronounce nuclear as nucular.
Okay…one more and I’m done. I can’t stand people pronouncing words that end ing like the end with een, i.e. walkeen instead of walking
Now I’m done😊
Sorry for the typo of the when it should have been they.
My shopping experiences in the UK have changed since I turned 60 and let my hair go grey. Many shop assistants think they are being kind referring to me as “Sweetheart” or “Hun”. No.
The overuse of a particular swear word is also annoying. It was made popular by chef Gordon Ramsden. Unfortunately the word, the shouting and the angry demeanor are now used by many standup comedians in place of jokes.
Why do major newscasters use the word “That” so much!?!? Correspondents are starting to do it. It’s bazaar. THAT new vaccine, THAT plane crash, THAT police shooting… it’s really getting annoying.
I agree with all the comments. It’s feels good to know others are as annoyed as I. Some of my pet peeves are as follows:
No. 1 the misuse of “I”
No. 2 the addition of “ing” to verbs
No. 3 length vs. lenth, H (long a and ch) vs. (long a and shuss), streaming vs. shreaming. Is it a geographical thing? The latter pronunciations of each drive me nuts.
You can shream ashuss g t v. The 2021 Dream Home is looking good and wanting you to win it. Let’s take a selfie of you and I.
These are examples of bad grammar, mispronounced words, and slang. And, when a person says, “you are smarter than I,” the am is implied as in I am. You are smarter than I am. Argh!!!
I meant the first not the latter. Caro
I was about to write a comment concerning the misuse of “me” and “I” when I read yours. Not only “I” improperly placed but “me” used at the start of a phrase. It’s as if speakers don’t care whether their grammar is correct. I’ve pointed out the mistake to my grandchildren who acknowledge the correction but later continue to say ” me and him.” Even more annoying is the public speakers misuing the pronouns. Perhaps it’s self-importance driving the habit.
Of all the irritating speech patterns around these days, vocal fry is, for me, the most intolerable. Hearing fingernails down a blackboard couldn’t be more excruciating than vocal fry, and the stress I experience when not being able to tell the person doing it to stop it is hard to deal with. If the person is on TV, I have to change the channel.
“So, what are you gonna do about that job application?” Fine.
“So, tomorrow I’ll apply for the job.” Not fine.
“I’m low on fuel so I’m gonna stop and fill up” Fine.
“Can you tell us about the car accident you witnessed today?”
“Soooo, this car just ran through a stop sign…..” ARE YOU READING ME A BEDTIME STORY? STOP THAT NONSENSE!
Anything you can think of, no matter how tiny and insignificant it may be, can be described as a game changer. What game?
Literally, actually, etc. No statement can ever, ever stand on its own without an intensifier. If it can be misused, so much the better.
There are so many of these annoying speech patterns and they are contagious. Unfortunately most people don’t even notice they have been “infected”, or they simply don’t care, leaving people like me to go crazy.
I can only see things getting worse and I don’t know how I’ll deal with it. One day I’m sure I’ll lose my job after losing my temper with a patient.
The shtraight down the shtreet seems to be 40-45 and under. One the first of second episodes of Star Trek Discovery, I think that’s the name, the captain says, “…thish traitor”. I couldn’t continue to watch. I even contacted a renowned acting school. They aren’t aware of it so I think that means there are no elocution lessons.
The most recent annoying speech pattern to me is the habit of adding an ‘ah’ sound to the end of a word. I first heard this on a Dove commercial. The young woman in the commercial exclaimed, “It’s Dove-ah!” Now I notice it all the time. “Don’t do that-ah!” “It’s so annoying-gah!”
What I notice is the use of “Well,” before almost every response by news panelists. Is it to have a snippet of time before responding? I don’t consider it “thoughtful” because the next word follows immediately.
Hello;
It makes my skin crawl, when people say are, when it is PRONOUNCED, OUR!!! Our and Hour is pronounced and sounds the same.
News Media and Teachers are mispronouncing this word.
On a personal note, being, ‘English ‘, that is to say, ‘we invented English’, therefore, regardless of colour, creed, religion. Our language is being bastardised for their own purpose, ‘throat fry’, non-pronunciation, just being annoying. Amongst a lot of you’re vocabulary mistakes is one that makes me sick, the yank way of saying, ‘ mirror’, they say ‘Mirrrrr’.
What are they like. Then there is ‘borough ‘, pronounced ‘burra’, the yanks say ‘burrow’, that’s what a mole does in your garden. I could go no for ages but two of them fucked my life up, so I hate them all.
Merry fucking xmas
Ironically, the girl in the last video does vocal fry throughout (I managed less than a minute of the video).
OK. How about the recent “clipping to the end of some words.” Example..
“Important…..pronounced I’m-por-ent.” Sounds like a 2 year old learning to speak.
I hate “hunert” instead of “hundred”.
James,
I first noticed this on the Ezra Klein podcast. I believe he is from the Bay Area in California. I’m curious if this is a “West Coast” thing with the under 40 set. Does anyone out there have any thoughts on any possible geographic relationship?
That one really gets me. Where did that come from??
Also, why has everyone started turning t’s to d’s. Manhattan is apparently now Manhadden.
THANK YOU for this! I thought I was being a stodgy Gen X’er in feeling profound contempt for these news pundits on CNN and MSNBC… I just keep yelling at my TV: ‘you sound like a moron!’ They’re clearly not morons though – many are well-educated and very smart but when they say ‘right?’ and start a sentence with ‘so’ they sound like idiots. The worst is ‘sort of.’ Initially I thought it was a precious Mid-Atlantic way of speaking from years gone by ‘Gore Vidal was a sort of intellectual savant.’ Then as it was used repeatedly in the same program by these pundits I realized it was just some new ridiculous-sounding cautious way of not overstepping. Not sure if it has anything to do with trying to be overly sensitive or PC or whatever about things and needing to couch language. But it sends up sounding so unintelligent and gutless.
For real(s), yo!
People who do not know the difference between “fewer” and “ less” and when to use them correctly. I am also hearing “a” and “an” used incorrectly. Others, over exaggerated, more perfect, funner and many more. The sad thing is people who should know better obviously don’t.murlean
I can’t stand “amazing”. Everything and everyone is aMAzing. On one news page I saw it used in four different headlines at the same time. It’s lazy and not particularly descriptive. In the series Heartland, it is practically half of the dialog.
Yeah, I’ll second that motion. It seems that “amazing” has become the new “awesome”.
You obviously haven’t heard anyone say super over and over.
“This dessert was super easy to make! The ingredients were super fresh and it tasted super amazing!”
“The car we bought drives super fast! The interior is super soft leather!”
I would be happy to hear the word amazing without the word super in front of it.
I didn’t read through all of the comments but one I didn’t see mentioned is the common trend now, most especially (again) by young to even college aged females adding
“-aahh” to extend words. Such as: “NO-aahh!”, “STOP-aahh!!”, “WAIT-aahh”. I even heard some say “go away-aahh” or similar uses.
Great article. Also annoying is the fake lisp of many young-ish women – trying to copy Emma Stone, assuming her lisp is real – not sure. Also, “ahhhhh, ahhhhhhh” when they see a puppy or baby or receive a gift, etc. It is so rehearsed and not natural. And the horrible grammar: “Her and I.” I have a small business and refuse to hire anyone who speaks like anyone described in the article or these annoying ways of speaking.
Super everything… Super excited because it’s super boring and I’m tired of being super disappointed. Does anyone super agree?
Absolutely!!! I hate the word super!
You should receive an employer of the year award. My aversion to imbecile-generated sounds has made me reconsider certain career paths.
Not included in the list, which usually includes vocal fry, is this ‘mouth full of potato’ way of speaking that UK millennials in particular display. Do you experience this as an interviewer?
It really annoys me when people are speaking in clear English and then when it’s time foe them to refer to a foreign culture such as “Latinos” they can’t just say “Latinos” like we do in English but they have to HEAVILY saturate their pronunciation so they can prove that they are almost (or actually) bilingual
It’s not a conscious thing. Once you learn a second language it’s hard to speak it incorrectly.
The use of “You know what?” just before every seemingly unrevealing statement is huge in Australian parlance, um well at least in Melbourne. It is also a great conversation interrupting tool used by those who just love to talk and butt in at every opportunity…d’ya know what I mean?
I consider language a beautiful sign of class, education and the desire to make everybody involved in a conversation comfortable. I don’t care where you are from, how heavy your accent is of that area or even if you don’t have a higher education, but if you can speak in a way that is commanding (rather than many of the demanding ways people converse now), you can talk about any subject, and I will be interested.
Recently, I went onto YouTube to look for videos of the late actress Conchata Ferrell, and I found an interview with her and co-star Holland Taylor. The young woman interviewing them had the most annoying high pitched upspeak that I could not continue, and when I read the comments, many people commented on how annoying the so-called journalist was. I will change the channel when people speak in this manner, and when I have to put up with an advertisement before a video starts, I will simply repeat over and over to block them out, “la la la la la” until it is over. When I meet a person under the age of 40 who does not speak in this manner, I am surprised and delighted, and will go out of my way to let them know how much I appreciate their ability to communicate properly. It may be a form of ageism, but there is truth to every stereotype.
Mark, your comments are very well spoken, and I also consider language and one’s command and understanding of it to be a sign of class and proper education. I’m not sure if our primary education system is to blame for not putting enough emphasis on the spoken (or written) word for our younger generations, or whether it is more of a socialization and modeling of behavior that is rampant. But like you, when I find a younger person who is free of the upspeak, glottal fry, lack of oxygen when speaking, or repetitive use of “um”, “like” and “you know” it is always refreshing. Thank you for your comment!
I have also noticed when people use a hard “g” instead of a soft or silent “g” in many words. The biggest one that I hear it in is when celebrities say “singer”. Also not pronouncing a “t” in a word. Such as “certain ” ,they no longer pronounce the “t”. These are commentators, announcers, and reporters!! If I were paying someone to speak on TV I would insist that they use the correct pronunciations. I don’t claim to speak perfect English but these are things every child learns in grade school.
I didn’t know there was a word for that! Vocal fry. I called it creaking…. why do young women want to sound freaky? I am a voice artist as well and I make SURE there is no creaks in my work! I can’t stand to hear it, like nails on a chalkboard young ladies, please correct yourselves!!!
Hi Gina – thanks for your response here. Yes, vocal fry has become almost a standard version of vocalization in our current era. While for many VO artists, like you and me, we strive to have a more refined and adjusted voice, that is more pleasing to the ear, I do find that in general media such as TV, film and especially commercials, the prevalence of this is a reflection of the prevalence found in the general population. While it may not be pleasing to US, it may be a more recognizable and “standard” sound to those who are currently hiring VO talent, or even on-camera talent. It’s a strange phenomenon in my mind, but of course trends come and go. It will not be a sad day for me when vocal fry becomes a bygone trend.
Linguists usually refer to it as “creaky voice.” So “creaking” is a reasonable thing to call it. 🙂
Many men do this also, although it’s usually not as noticeable as creaky voice in women, because men’s voice are deeper to begin with so the pitch drop doesn’t contrast as much with their normal pitch/phonation.
Debbie,
Can you comment on a growing trend of, what one person termed, “manufactured precision diction”? A speech pattern where every word is delivered with careful measure and staccato pauses, as if every thought being expressed is incredibly complex?
If I could type in this format, it would look something like this…
Auto-formatting removed the numerous spaces between the words in my last sentence, rendering the example less than illustrative.
This may be better:
If I…….could…. type…… in this……… format, it……. would……. look…… something like….. this.
Uptalk or up speak are newer terms for ARI or Australian Rising Inflection which I am told is where it began. An article in England stated that bosses would not employ anyone who used this phrasing, as they felt that they were unsure of themselves. Does that mean that Aussies and New Zealanders are not sure of themselves? Or is this merely habit?
It’s not clear if upspeak/high rising terminal intonation started in Australia (or even New Zealand), or on the West Coast of the USA. It may have developed independently in both places. But if there was a single origin, the West Coast USA seems more likely to me — considering the larger population and the amount of film and TV produced there that’s consumed internationally.
I first noticed vocal fry around 2007 when two young female supervisors of mine would literally end each sentence with 4 to 5 seconds of vocal fry. I mean, they really drew it out. It was the most annoying thing I had ever heard. I began to notice it more and more on TV and in real life and decided that whoever started this trend should be banished to Antarctica for the remainder of his/her life. I remember one teenage girl who was working the cash register at a local convenience store. She creaked so much that I literally couldn’t understand a word she was saying. I was going to ask her if she had a sore throat but decided to be nice and just get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. Women who speak this way remind me of the ghosts in the movie, “The Grudge.”
Fast forward to 2020 and, although I love shows about animals like the various zoo reality shows on Animal Planet, I cannot watch the one based out of Australia. My god, every single female and some of the males end every sentence like it’s a question. Why, just why? Have I become a crotchety old fart or is Idiocracy truly upon us?
You’re not crotchety. I know which zoo program you’re referring to and I can’t watch it either. It seems all females under age 35 speak this way. It really does grate on the nerves.
I don’t watch a lot of TV; but when I do I have to mute all the commercials. I am so tired of women trying to sound like little girls and drawing out their “s” sounds. Then in addition to vocal fry they have to insert the word “super” at least once into each sentence. It’s not cute. It’s not even “super cute”. It’s a lisp and something that should have been fixed in grade school. I’m only 40 but I feel like a rambling old person yelling at the TV any time I watch it. It applies to what the kids call “music” these days as well. I feel compelled to add an educational commentary on the definition of music when out in public. Moaning is not music. Grunting is not music. Stripping is not music. Music is music. And singing involves a Melody AND talent. It is an art not a nuisance. I blame social media and non-parenting. Thanks for a place to vent.
Yes, the mute button is hit, the station is changed, and I stop cringing 20 minutes later.
Hi Debbie and those commenting, all of whom I can identify with wholeheartedly.
Can I just start by saying that two very annoying vocal trends that have reached us here in the UK / Northern Ireland in recent years are up speaking and vocal fry, which are bad enough on their own. But it’s when I hear someone who has the astonishing ability to combine those two very irritating trends, as well as throwing in the recent social media driven pointless inane phrases – “so…”; “I feel like…”, “OMG!” etc, that I terminate my involvement in the conversation immediately.
Yes indeed, these annoying trends are now common to stupid people the world over believe me, mainly most likely due to easier access to media such as world news media, social media, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, self obsessed attention seeking wannabe famous so called “influencers”, etc. Another big offender is the reality tv show, e.g. “Housewives of wherever”, “The Hills”, “Keeping up with…”, “The Apprentice”. Or here in The UK / Ireland, “Big Brother”, “Made in Chelsea” to name but a few. My wife has been sucked in and watches all of these, albeit now in private, as I spend most of my time pointing out how these dumb narcissistic losers, sap the very life out of all right-thinking folks within humanity.
I’m sorry to say that the age old requirement to communicate accurately both verbally and in writing, and to effectively be your true self while communicating, is rapidly being lost to us all, in favour of these Social Media / Reality TV educated fools who can’t be bothered to spell a word properly or fully, or string a coherent sentence together without an emoji! If I had my way all of the above media types would be banned outright at home, in school and in the workplace, as all of it makes me want to puke.
I’m not ashamed to say that I have on frequent occasion shown these dim-witted types the door of my office immediately (usually upon hearing any hint of vocal fry, that’s enough to do it), telling them to email me their query, which I then promptly delete without reading, and send them an auto-reply to that effect. If they come back to me with any further vocal fry, I just repeat the process until they get the message.
But then apparently it’s me who’s the grumpy old man with a problem, when I correct my kids in their use of basic English grammar. But I remain relentless – I call it out every time. I refuse point blank to allow anyone to communicate with me other than within the acceptable parameters of good spoken and written English – i.e. the way I was taught to as a very young child.
I’m happy to continue commenting as required, as I’ve plenty more to say on the subject!
Thanks,
Baz
(N. Ireland)
Hello Baz, and thank you so much for being so detailed in your descriptions of your total annoyance with these speech trends. I have to smile when reading, as I am also of an age, and profession, where language skills, word choice, and vocal delivery are so important. It’s refreshing to hear someone else with similar tendencies, calling out the “younger generation” on so many of these types of habits, which, in effect, butcher the language and the beauty of it’s intended delivery. I hope that there will be some attention paid to restoring some respect for our language in generations to come. It’s like the art of cursive, or long hand writing, which has also become a relic of the past for so many. Children these days aren’t even taught it anymore, and should they actually receive a hand-written note, they act as if they are translating some strange foreign sandscript language, to even try and read it. It’s funny… but also sad that the ways of the world, and so many traditions and really important things are not being passed down to the next generation. A tragic comment on our times, indeed. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this subject. I enjoyed reading them and replying as well.
Five lines from the bottom, auto correct changed Sanskrit to sandscript. They also cannot read digital clocks.
Don’t know if this is quite in the same league, but watching YouTube videos, there is a channel called “Triggernometry” I like that does interesting interviews/chats on sometimes contentious topics. But in between this & because I’m bored at home, they do something called a “live stream”, which I didn’t usually watch. I appreciate it’s a casual, off the cuff chat with the 2 male hosts (in their late 30’s possibly) who are intelligent & one was a teacher in London!
They read out various “super-chats” & live comments, chat about various media happenings, but one host, Francis Foster (they are both stand up comedians too) repeatedly says “absolutely” in response to everything. I tried to ignore it, but as it’s about an hour show, ten minutes in, he says this word numerous times.
There are many more I could come up with, but tedious at the moment.
Thank you Baz for this eloquently written commentary. My dad was from Canada of English heritage. He would call us out too. He would say, no I don’t know in reply to our “you know.” I just love what you wrote. I agree with you with every fiber of my being.
Spot on! I thought I was an a-hole for being annoyed at these things. (My wife thinks I am. ) I’ve even come close to writing to NPR about their guests’ propensity to start sentences with “so.” Another one I’ve heard lately is “everything going on these days.” Why use a euphemism in place of “the pandemic?” I am also hearing “stated” instead of simply “said,” and don’t get me started on the misuse of “myself.” Thank you for validating my observations!
Hey Bob – this original post was inspired from listening to NPR…so you are not alone in your observations or annoyances at the kind of speech patterns readily available on our airwaves. I do think it bothers some more than others, and once you key in on it…you hear it all the time, and it becomes more like nails on a chalkboard. This post has garnered SO many comments like yours, so hopefully, you will feel vindicated that you aren’t the only one hearing and being frustrated by these things. Thanks for your comment!
Thank you so much, Debbie and Baz! You two have made so many excellent points! So many things about schooling have been grating AND concerning me for quite a while! As a public school teacher here in Florida for almost 40 years, I’ve noticed the precipitous decline in our educational standards for years now. Just on the cursive… I used to teach my 5th and 6th graders cursive writing for at least 30 minutes a day. The kids were GRADED on handwriting in their report cards, and it was considered an important skill. Some time around the late 90s, early 2000’s, it was taken off the graded subjects. As a result, many teachers stopped teaching it. NOW, I substitute. When I go into the 4th, 5th grade classes, I write my name on the board in cursive. The kids immediately say, “I can’t read cursive”. It makes me terribly sad. So I do speak to them about that, how important it is to at least be able to READ it, but it really goes nowhere from there. Kids used to be so proud when their cursive writing improved as they practiced it. No more of that!!!
Loved your video. I thought I was the only person annoyed by these patterns. Here’s one that you didn’t feature – maybe it doesn’t count but it’s wrong and it’s annoying. People are suddenly emphasizing the wrong syllable in words that end in “dent”. The best example is stuDENT. This is supposed to be pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable: STUdent.
Thank you.
Paige,
I thought that I was the only person who had picked up on the stuDENT pronunciation. Like many here, I listen to a good deal of NPR-ish broadcasts and podcasts. It seems to me that in the course of the past couple of years stuDENT has become the preferred usage.
Thank you Paige for mentioning the accent on the wrong syllable trend. It sounds weird and affected. Along with that and many other things mentioned here i’ve also noticed use of the wrong vowel sounds. For instance LAST becomes LOST. I have assumed they’re trying to sound British, which may also account for the glottal stop (i think that’s the correct term) in words like curtain, mountain, sweeten etc.
This is why I refuse to hire young people! I want the people representing my company to be PROFESSIONAL. I have suffered through dozens of interviews with millennials, both male and female, who use vocal fry, up talk and verbal place holders as if their lives depended on it. There is no place in the adult, professional world for this nonsense.
Soft, gentle words rising to hard, forceful preaching, followed by applause and cheering! Noticably used televangelist pastors and political speeches.
I wonder if anyone was listing to the message and if the listeners are able to verify the accuracy or validity of the content.
The truth is clear. Stop adding, subtracting, and manipulating language to influence or control the listener.
In addition, the effective and efficient usage of the words effective and efficient is an effective and efficient means of increasing effective and efficient effectiveness and efficiency.
Using ALA formatted vocal conversations.
12 pt times new roman double spaces face to face conversations.
I can sense the pits of hell opening within my spirit and anger arising like smoke of an erupting volcano, “ahhhhh! Stop talking like that!”
I get annoyed when people on TV or radio speak too quickly while also using fillers such as “umm” or “uh”. I also can’t stand when people repeatedly mispronounce words. I commonly hear “comferble”, “tempature”, and “Febooairy”. Grammatical mistakes are less annoying, but still problematic. Many people confuse further and farther or say “me and you” instead of “you and I”.
or common mispronunciation: Realtor, not Real – a – tor. Sauvignon – Sauv – in- yoh (silent n) not Sauv – in- yawn. Filet Mignon: Min-yoh, not min-yawn. Garage – soft zzz, not hard J at end.
There are some new kids on the block this year:
“In these trying times….” If I hear this on TV I change the channel.
“We’re all in this together….” Uh, no we are not. I’m not in it with any Cornholio who believes the Bill of Rights was ammended such that no government edict can mandate the wearing of masks or otherwise intrude on their bottom-shelf 40 brain’s belief of their right to cough and sneeze on me. The 10th Ammendment says differently. If I hear this on TV I change the channel. I just wish I had a remote control that worked on people with a tangible presence. I also wish we could deny medical service to anyone who refused to wear a mask and then contracted Covid-19. But what to do with them then? If we could get the Australians to leave home we could return the island to its original (European) use. Fly them in and leave them in the outback. Offer them a mask as they debark the plane while thanking them for flying F.U. airlines. Remember this rant next time you hear “We’re all in this together blah blah blah….”
By the way I’m not real keen on the use of “repurpose” or “deconstruct.”
Vocal fry isn’t going away anytime soon because television advertisers use it to show their product is hip. I change channels whenever I hear it. I also blame Britney Spears.
The vocal pattern that annoys me endlessly is when women talk like little girls when they add “UH” to the end of words. For example, instead of saying “No” they say ‘NoUH”. It makes these women sound like spoiled little girls who are accustomed to getting things their own way, and you better expect a tantrum if they don’t get what they want.
or “I I I I I I dragged out and finished with “uh.”
There are several blogs online, written by women who think society “needs” to stop being critical of their way of talking; i.e. upspeak, vocal fry, constant buzzwords, overworked filler phrases, etc.
No, sorry. Society doesn’t “need” to do anything. The millions of people who comprise society absolutely do not need to adapt to the annoying speech patterns of an entitled few. Anyone who wishes to sound like an idiot is well within his or her rights to do so. But those persons might find it hard to get a high-paying job. That’s the main reason why most adults eventually decide it’s in their best interests to lose the bad habits.
There’s a woman at my healthcare provider’s office who uses upspeak constantly. Every sentence is spoken as a question, whether it is or not. I have to tune her out because I can’t stand to listen to her talk. I am seriously thinking of finding a new provider for that very reason. Anyone who thinks these things don’t (or shouldn’t) matter should think again.
The one I’m most sick of hearing and seeing is “OMG”…….it’s not only extremely annoying and offensive, it makes the person using this abbreviation seem ignorant, unintelligent and immature, but it also happens to be highly blasphemous.
I can’t understand why newscasters emphasize random words (often times it’s a verb)
“Tomorrow WILL be a hot day” or
“Today IS the first day of Spring”
“Many people ARE taking advantage of the hot weather”
The sound of 2020 America is a chirpy vocal fry. Do TV news announcers take classes in speaking this way? Would my friends laugh if I developed the chirpy voice?
Gosh ny chief hates include the words we are expected to use in public so we do not appear too assertive or pushy. So in the workplace and over the airways, especially on leftist networks the use of ENCOURAGE, SUGGEST and URGE etc etc etc. I hate those words as they sound so false but we all use them. Why? Then on the other extreme we have ABSOLUTELY. Have a listen how many times you hear ABSOLUTELY on the tv. and radio. Why? An interesting one this one. I’m going out on a limb and saying they use it because it is something definitive in their conversation. The point is not worth discussing because of what was just said. Unlike appearing simply one of the collective in using URGE, ENCOURAGE and SUGGEST which is a translation in beta male language, because we hate patriarchies, especially white ones, we can with ABSOLUTELY step past that level of making an indicator by laying the hammer on the anvil. Don’t get me started on “LIKE”….
Sadly, I don’t think these trend will die out. We can expect the children of millennials to pass annoying speech patterns on to their children. I notice my three year old great-grandson now says “I really miss you guys” when he used to just say “I miss you.”
Some other annoying trends are 1) “super”, “totally” and “uber” for “very”
2) “pumped” and “stoked” for “excited”
3) saying “een” for “ing”–as in “goeen” or “stayeen” for “going” or “coming”
4) adding “definately” before every verb
5) substituting “I’m here like” or “He’s here like” for “I said” or “he said”
I can’t get used it but somehow I must figure out how to do it or I’ll never be able to “chill” with my great grand children.
I’m reading this because I am driven to distraction now that my husband has started constantly dropping the ‘g’ from words ending in ‘ing’. Playin, doin, shopping, talkin, and just today ‘consultin’. He has also shortening him and them to ‘em’. Nails on a chalkboard to me.
Here’s what makes me hit mute/delete on any podcast, youtube speaker, Radio, etc. ….ANY Mouth smacking, “Ttt” or “Tsk” between every phrase, or hearing saliva sounds !!! It’s so common and I cannot believe speakers do NOT hear this on playback?!? Did college professors never say….hey, that’s annoying and unprofessional? Videos, I get by with closed-caption options, otherwise… just NO.
I couldn’t agree more, this has been the bane of my existence…til now. Who is telling people to jut their bottom jaw out and keep their tongue from going past their teeth? Grown men purposely deforming their mouth to speak like a FREAK! This is only a small portion of the sissification of men that I could rant about but it is the most annoying. It has become so prevalent that someone has to be telling them that this is the proper way to speak and I would like to know who it is. Maybe I can strap them to a chair and rake my finger nails down a chalkboard!
All I’m hearing from this post is a lot of complaining over nothing. “So” what if someone tags “right” at the end of their sentence? Small talk usually calls for this kind of language unless you’re writing a research paper. Other wise, this is mostly normal talk for everyone.
One thing that bothers me is when people pronounce the word “ancient” as “ankshent”. There’s no “k” sound in the word, yet many people want to pronounce it as though there is. Is it the “c” that’s throwing them, or are they getting it confused with the word “anxious”? I don’t know, but it happens more often than you’d think.
I am now hearing “full glottal stops” ( I think that is the correct term) being ignored. Didn’t sonds like Di-int, Couldn’t sounds like Cou-int. Then there is the over use of the word “Like” & “So”
NPR has always kept American dialects and accents out of their reporting, but Vally-Girl seems to be OK. I suppose since the rulers of NPR have daughters who all speak like this.
That drives me INSANE!!!! What is that? Who started that? Someone told me it started with the Kardashians, which doesn’t surprise me if that’s true. I want it to stop, NOW! I found this post because I was looking for a video that addresses this. I want to post it on Facebook. Thank you for helping me put a name to this!
I didn’t read all the comments, so my apologies if this was already mentioned. My husband and I both react as though we’re hearing nails on a chalkboard when people speak as though they’re trying to manipulate us. It feels like they want attention, or something else, from us and are using what they think are caressing tones. This usually entails drawn out words: “Sooo…something reeeaally horrrribllllle happened todaaayyyy… I broke my cat candlllllle….. (Pout face).” Is there a name for this type of speaking? It feels very much like assumed humility and manipulation.
I don’t know of any name for that… But reading your comment makes me think that maybe a lot of this type of speaking comes as a side effect of the Youtube and social media age, where people try to stand out and get noticed any way that they can. Weird or unique ways of speaking are one way to get noticed. And then those styles get copied and go viral and pretty soon you hear it everywhere.
“Ek-specially”, “think-yewwwuh” and using “individual” instead of “person” are three of my current annoyance triggers. The biggest for me, though, is the epidemic vocal fry combined with a high-pitched voice, or “sexy baby speak”, among the majority of women, and many men now (Ira Glass, I’m looking at you). At work, I am surrounded by intelligent and well-educated women in their 20s to 40s who speak this way. They sound exhausted or out of breath. I want to shout at them “Inhale! Quick, before you faint!” I find it so distracting that I don’t hear what they’re saying anymore, and that’s not good.
I don’t buy the argument that this is an empowering trend for women. Bull***t. It’s just people being influenced by media influencers (Kardashians) and then copying each other to fit in. Every generation has its own trends, and that’s natural, but this trend is spreading and sticking. I now hear little girls copying their mums, speaking in vocal fry, and that’s sad.
OMG! Now that I’m working remotely full-time, I have become acutely aware of speech patterns of the people I work with! One person in particular uses a combination of vocal fry (at times), saying “so” at the end of sentences, using upspeak, AND drawing words out (I guess while thinking of what to say). All of this is from one person. Ugh!
OMG! Now that I’m working remotely full-time, I have become actually aware of the speech patterns of the people I work with! One person in particular uses a combination of vocal fry (at times), saying “so” at the end of sentences, using upspeak, AND drawing words out (I guess while thinking of what to say). All of this is from one person. Ugh!
What is the affectation where the speaker draws out the end of every sentence as if they’ve just ran out of breath, but still want to get that last word out. To me, it sounds like they’ve actually forgotten to end the word and let that final syllable continue to sound out for an extended period.
For me, the whole “So…” thing is one of these pet peeves that makes me want to smash whatever device I’m hearing the word played upon. “So…” should only be used at the beginning of a sentence when you are either asking a new question or starting a whole new topic of conversation.
For example:
Person 1: “So what is your opinion on adding cream to this dessert?”
or:
Person 1: “I went to a concert yesterday and it was very entertaining!”
Person 2: “So, did you ever get to visit your mother in Phoenix?”
If you are just answering someone else’s previous question, DO NOT begin with “So…”
For example:
Person 1: “What is your viewpoint on the plight of South African farmers?”
Person 2: “So… South African farmers are facing difficult times nowadays…”
This usage of “So” is incorrect!!!
I agree with Angela Brookman, above, in her complaint about people now refusing to pronounce the “T” sound in words (I’m told the phenomenon has a name: “T-glottalization”), though I take issue with her examples, “clarity” and “poverty.” What drives me up a wall is when young people — and that is who is doing this now — drop the “T” sound in the middle of a word, such as “kitten.” They say “kih-uhn.” And “mitten” is “mih-uhn,” and “written” is “wrih-uhn,” and so forth. It seems to me it takes more effort to speak a word without its “T” sound in the middle than to speak the word properly!
The “t” sound is there; the enunciation is just very soft, almost swallowed, because the word is split into syllables in a different place than what’s “proper.” While I agree that it’s a lazy way of speaking, it’s probably more a regional speech pattern than anything else.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this story — which consolidates all the worst habits of TV news people — as well as the thread of reader responses. But I have to make one addendum to the use of “right?” (a word I view as a form of conversational bullying). I’ve had to stop watching MSNBC, because Rachel Maddow lards her hour with the use of “right.” Worse is Chris Hayes, who doesn’t even use “right” properly! He’ll start a sentence, but then even before he gets to the part that he wants to bully you into agreeing with, he’ll stick in a “right?”! “Hayes, you say ‘right?,’ but how do I know whether I agree with you or not until you actually make the statement?”
My vote for most annoying speech affectation goes to the word “to”. For some reason, untold numbers of people now seem to think it’s pronounced “teee-eew”.
OMG! There are so many more. Exclusive to Americans are having to include ‘real quick’ in every sentence and ‘right here’ or ‘right there’ But MOST annoying now is one that almost every single woman seems to do now… And yes it is women strangely enough. I see and hear it every dingle day and never heard a man do it. It is hard to describe but I’ve narrowed it down to when a woman has to tell a story or recount something that has a list of things in it. Their whole speach pattern changes. For example ‘i had a really busy day today.. I had to go to the stoooore, pick up the dry cleaniiiiiing, get some grocerrrrrriiiies, walk the doooooooog.’ etc. They rise the inflection of the words at the end of every sentence. Watch ANY interview with a woman and they do this. I’ve NO idea where it came from or why. Psychologicaly though my ‘theory’ is that women want to be listened to and they do it subconsciously to be heard and for people to pay attention to them. Weirdos lol 😜
The worst speech pattern for me is when the speaker put strong emphasis on many words in the same sentence, for example:
https://youtu.be/biR3yCc7hsE?t=48
But this pattern is now very diffuse, especially for people who do speeches, they think that putting a strong emphasis on each words makes their speech more “powerful”, while in reality it just dilutes the effect because now most words are pronunced with emphasis. It’s like “special effects” in cinema: they’re not “special” anymore if a movie is 90% “special effects”.
Also, another annoying speech pattern is this:
https://youtu.be/CIQ6nVM0sRk?t=303
Costant micro-pauses after each couple of words, like if there’s a question being asked or there’s always some doubt.
I am sick of “cymbals” that end a commercial etc. to make it sound as it is so amazing, and all-important. I relate to it now as it is the absolutely worst thing ever and the commercial uses the cymbals to change it into some great thing, which it is not. This cymbal sound bite, aren’t event how a professional drummer would play, or maybe would not immediately make this sound unless the cymbals were damaged somehow. Also, the millennial “kid” who is f’d in the head trying to sound so sophisticated, like he is an expert at everything and demeaning to everyone. Please, let’s stop hiring these dudes who are stuck in their own head trying to sound and trick us believing they are something they are not.
Soooooo, it’s bad enough when girls speak that way but, when a guy does it, I know we’re in trouble.
So, it is not just me that notices this. Thank you so much for validating my comments to my skeptical wife.
Thank gawd to learn I’m not the only one who bitches about these assaults on English. You’ve covered it all, including the “Yes, no” stupidity. I watch a lot of YouTube news videos and even a simple yes/no question is nearly always answered by starting with “So, I mean.”
a lot of people I know are using the word ACTUALLY as a filler word. I am a bit more forgiving if English isn’t your first language but otherwise it’s incredibly annoying.
This is such a great article, thank you for pointing out all the stupid add-ins people use that are so annoying to me. And yes they sound condescending. I’ll add the slow sing-songy way people have started to talk. Drives me nuts!
This is a great discussion! Nice to find I’m not the only person driven to distraction by these annoying speech habits.
My current pet hate is the need for the speaker to promise to tell the truth as in “To be honest, …” or “I’m not gonna lie, …” and then proceeds to reveal some piece of bland trivia!
I also see an affectation of a stammer, emphasizing the last syllable of a word, of a sentence, the totally unnecessary use of “and so”, after starting with the ubiquitous “So,” and repetition of statements as if the listener is an imbecile. Thankfully, people have stopped using “in terms of” before every statement!
Great discussion! I came to this thread as I am driven mad by Nicola Walker, the terrific British actress (who I like very much) has this annoying habit of pausing momentarily in the middle of delivering her line in a script. I first noticed this in the TV series “Unforgotten” where it is hugely noticeable, but seeing earlier performances in the TV series “Spooks” from a number of years before, I see (hear!) it’s there, though much less pronounced (sic.). I guess my question is: is this a recognised speech defect? Anyone care to comment?
Fabulous opinions everybody: a terrific discussion!
I’m trying to find this info, too. The Alexis character on Schitt’s Creek has raised this to a hilarious satire.
I work with someone who is very intelligent in general, and very knowledgeable about the subject he’s presenting but he has this annoying halting speech pattern. He can’t seem to finish a sentence without stopping in the middle and, if it’s a long sentence, he’ll stop and start 3 or 4 times. That’s my new pet peeve and I wish I knew a way to counsel him on it!
Would you please counsel ME on it? I do this, and my co-habitator, unrelenting spirit-breaker guy person interrupts me in the middle of my every effort to engage in a meaning exchange of ideas and information. I get all excited about what I’m telling, when he suddenly blurts out, “Finish a sentence!” I am confounded; I get angry; I reiterate, for the umpteenth time, “I can’t help it! I have asked you not to do that!” I say something, along the lines of, “That’s one way to ensure I don’t talk; you don’t have to listen to me.” Then, I walk away seething, and loathing him more and more. To me, that’s like criticising someone who stutters, besides being a tool to stonewall me. If, however, it’s something that is correctable, I would like to know how, (NOT to be more pleasing or acceptible to him), so that I might be less annoying to more diplomatic persons like yourself . Thanks for any suggestions.
The whiny and drawn-out words, how can I cite an example? An overheard conversation: “The other day I was walkiiiiiing, and, like, this dude flicked a cigarette butt on the graaa-ound, and I said, hey! That’s litteriiiiing, and he just kept walkiiiiing…” That isn’t exactly it, but it’s similar. It’s definitely whiny, and it’s annoying as hell to my ears. It’s mostly young females, but some young dudes do it as well. I’ve heard narrators doing it on youtube videos. What brought me here was the irritating way young females pronounce thank you. It sounds like they’re saying, “Think yeeough.” in a rude, snobby, sneer down the nose at you manner. It’s not just insincere, it’s rude, as if they’re annoyed at having to say it. Am I alone in this?
A lazy speech habit that grates on my nerves is the use of “Also too”. It’s bad enough to hear it in speech but I recently received an email that began with these words. Where did it come from and what were they thinking?
And the speech pattern that led me to your page is the one I’ve observed in the voice overs on virtually all home improvement shows. The inflection pattern the hosts use in every sentence of every voice over is exactly the same. No one speaks like that in conversation and I find it both distracting and irritating. These are interior designers and contractors. Were they all forced to attend the same course and drilled in this method before earning their hosting gigs? Shouldn’t voice overs sound like natural speech?
I am forever hearing “me and my friends” instead of “my friends and I”. It seems to be the new normal. Uggh!
Politicians and reporters insist on saying “Look” before spewing a profound statement. Look at what??
Also, some news reporters will pepper their stories with “obviously”. If it is so obvious, why is it news?
The latest speech fad that I am noticing a lot, here in the UK, in presenters on the radio, interviews, everywhere in fact, with seemingly well educated people, is that they are suddenly starting to drop their Ts in the middle of words-poveree(poverty) clariee(clarity) etc they’re all doing it.
The So at the beginning of every answer to a question, the Vocal Fry, the Upspeak all irritate me beyond all measure. I want to shout at them all and say”stop being sheep all of you, keep your individuality, it’s much more interesting, and real.
Someone must start these silly fads. I’d love to know how it happens.
*annoyed*
I am particularly by the long, drawn out letter ‘r’ at the end of a word: culturrrrr….
I’ve been trying to figure out the speech pattern of an acquaintance – it’s causing me irritation and anxiety. Her words hold me hostage. She’ll draw out her sentences with filler words and phrases such as “now this” adding in a firm “ yeah” – this speak continues with nonsensical words until she brings in another thought. Not long in to our conversations, I’ve tuned out. There’s no room for any reply and honestly, I no longer care.
She’s also picked up on all the popular, irritating ways of speaking. I can deal with that but having to stand there and not be able to express a thought is just too much. She’s in her mid-50s and old enough to know better. Has anyone experienced this verbal hostage taking?
This post is rude.
AMEN. Thank you, Debbie! I hear these daily with the younger crowd at work, and it has become an epidemic, catching on with even older folks. I particularly despise “yeah yeah yeah” and starting sentences with “So.”
I also dislike the replacement of “you’re welcome” with “no problem” when told “thank you.” When I purchase something from an employee, or tell someone thank you, I’m not needing assurance that I’m not a problem.
I respectfully disagree. “No problem” implies that the “Thank you” was not needed, because it was the right thing to do. Where “You’re welcome” implies that you went out of your way and accept their thanks as your praise. I use both in different contexts.
I agree. “No problem” suggests that I might have been a problem. “Thank you” is the correct response.
And what about people now pronouncing the “t” in “often”? We don’t pronounce the t in soften, of fasten, or glisten.
For me, it’s the high-pitched, pinched, nasal voice that sounds so flat and grating from women on TV. Maybe it’s the microphones? It’s like they are trying to sound like babies so they are less threatening.
Any insight into where the hard G at the end of -ing is coming from? I hear it all the time paint-inG almost sounding like “guh” at the end of the syllable. It seems to be many white females that I’m noticing using this trend. It’s so distracting!
People confessing to something or revealing something or letting someone know about how they feel about something is described not as revealed or confessed but so and so opened up about whatever. You can read opened up by the person being interviewed by a magazine or newspaper and it makes me cringe.
Amazing discussion. I wondered if I was alone in my discomfort. It’s good to see I am not. My gripe is mainly with broadcasting media, films, books, articles, any sort of communication authority, that has embraced these habits. Socially, or even professionally, person to person, I don’t let them bother me too much. But when used in television, radio, or print, I boil uncontrollably. It infuriates me, especially if NPR is on before my coffee. I growl at every inflected, high rising, ramble sometimes eliciting concerned looks from family members. Most examples have been covered here. Someone mentioned “literally” here and now that I think of it that one annoys me when I hear the younger members of the family use it, as well as actually. “I ‘actually’ literally’ sat down.” I like to respond: “as opposed to figuratively sat down, I suppose.” But here is the one trend that makes every cell in my body burst: It is when (perhaps two trends, but related), for example, a writer or announcer will state ” there are two reasons for situation X. the first is Y. And the second?…” Instead of just saying the first is Y, the second one is Z. I suppose the purpose is to draw suspense or to be clever, but it is so unnecessary and stupidly interrupts the flow of a list of reasons. The other annoyance is when someone announces “this is a problem” as “this? is a problem. “I am Jack and this? is my dog” No! “I am Jack and this is my dog” “That’s the sky, that’s the sea, and that? is…” You get the idea. Questions. Are you listening to me? You paying attention? That’s what it sounds like and it annoys me. It’s interrupted cadence. Now, once in a while I see the dramatic purpose of such a structure, but every dang time, every single dialogue. It sounds like cookie cutter script. I may be alone in this one lol, but i hate it.
Hahaha… Russell you are SPOT on! this article was originally conceived after listening to NPR and the annoying patterns heard by those that are supposed to be professional broadcasters. Seems our country (or generation) is being overrun with these ridiculous patterns! thanks for reading and your comment!
A new one I’ve just started noticing on a local radio interview, and from my husband (ugh) is accentuating the word “to” and a pause. Just stop!
I am listening to a webinar class right now and the instructor keeps using “apparently” to start sentences. At first, I thought maybe he was just discovering a new feature in the product he is explaining but it has become clear it is just something he blurts out every few minutes.
Firstly, I would like to say that I quite enjoyed reading your article. I find this is a topic worth discussing in a public forum, not to berate anyone for their colloquial style of speaking, but to intelligently address the issues with poor speech. Especially, the pervasive use of poor speech in the business world, and academia.
It seems to me that the average person’s way of communicating has become more casual in professional situations because it has become taboo to correct others in academic settings. Over the past few decades we have grown more to accept/tolerate each other’s personal shortcomings in professional places. And, for the sake of diplomacy, keeping the peace, or not wanting to appear to be snobbish or hurtful, we have simply stopped giving each other constructive criticism regarding our flaws.
My fifteen year old son frequently accuses me of “picking on him” for the way he speaks/writes. He has become hyper-sensitive to even the most polite criticism, and I blame this solely on our P.C. culture that (IMO) is ruining our educational system. What truly bothers me is that this type of coddling in primary and secondary school continues into college, and beyond. These kids are expected to go out in the “real world” and magically transform into people they were once never expected to be. I find that contrary to the quality of education that many of us older folks received. And, I feel it’s time to bring the old standards back.
You asked your readers what we would like for you to include in your next video. It’s hard to come up with additional topics, since so many of the “biggies” were already discussed.
Personally, I have a laundry list of poor speech and grammar pet peeves. I think one that bothers me the most (and one worth further discussing) is the ever common not quite lisp that I’ve noticed a lot in the media, especially when watching news anchors/reporters (as it is their job to clearly convey the report). Or, as my best friend calls it: the “hissed s.” For example, the word is news, not noose. After she pointed this out to me, I hear an appalling number of people that half hiss/lisp when they speak on reputable news programs. How do these people even get the job? It totally baffles me. And I say this from a professional point of view. I have worked as a journalist for over 25 years, and I do not work in television for a reason. Simply put, the standards for on-air positions were much higher when I entered the workforce: speaking well was imperative, but not nearly as important as having “television” looks. And, therein lies the issue. It’s easy to overlook poor speech when an attractive face is delivering the information. Sad, but true.
I am finding it increasingly more difficult to watch television, or listen to certain radio broadcasters, due to distracting speech patterns and styles. I love to hear all types of accents, and regional dialects, as long as they’re intelligible. We have come so far with representing what a diverse world we are in the media. Why diminish that by lowering our standards for education and employment?
Thanks for reading and commenting with such a detailed response, Adrianne. I agree with your comments whole-heartedly, and also wish that more attention be paid in the school environment to identifying and correcting inappropriate speech and speech patterns.
I mentioned this to a retired teacher, just a few minutes ago, and his response was that class size continues to grow and teachers have less time and ability to be task-masters on things like this. As he remarked…”they have to teach to the middle” to create any sense of moving forward in such large groups.
It’s all a process, and of course, we all work to improve (one hopes) our situation, not only personally, or as a family, but as a community and a country and a world. I suppose if the heart is in the right place, we can forgive some of these transgressions of speech. thank you again for such a thoughtful response.
People who say:
“ta” instead of “to”
“fer” instead of “for” (are they hillbillies?!)
“thas” instead of “that’s” (which is the abbreviation for “that is”)
“ish” instead of pronouncing it as “iz”
Let’s not forget the increasingly common “tyoo” in lieu of two, to, or too.
Yes, Pattie Parker!! I found this article looking for answer to that question. In fact, there’s a show on HBO where EVERY lady character has a speech impediment. Like yourself, I’m thinking it’s a trend. Speaking as an African American woman, if being more inclusive is the aim it fails. It is not good representation of the general population; especially the show where it is only women who have the speech impediments.
Is this really a new trend?
I have been trying to figure out why so so many people in TV commercials speak with a lisp. Is this the new trend? I’m not trying to be critical or mean, but it used to be if you had a speech impediment, you went to speech therapy and got rid of it before you went on public media. Having it as part of your daily living is different from going on TV or radio and having everyone hear it in a professional context.
It’s rampant. Pointing this out to friends, I’m usually answered by “yeah, I noticed,” or good old-fashioned shrugs. I find the lisping oddly intriguing particularly on Chick-Fil-A commercials because of their run-in with those who accuse(d) them of homophobia.
I notice the upspeak and vocal is prevalent mostly among young white females than anything else..but the valspeak..that is pretty universal..especially I find people my age use it as mostly fillers vs pauses when they are gathering their thoughts with “like” “so” “ya know”..I got 5 siblings w an equal balance of male and females and my parents growing up were drove up the wall by our over use of “like”
To those of you who are staying up to date with these comments and following this thread, we just posted a compilation video in this blog. It’s under the “The Up-and-Coming Most Annoying Speech Patterns” section. Please share more comments on this, and specifically what other patterns you’d like to see us include in the next video.
Listening to NPR is what got this whole thing started a few years back… But now these patterns are showing up everywhere. My husband watches CNBC a lot (financial channel) and even listening to various serious commentators and guests you can hear many examples of these patterns. The most common is “… right?” when used at the end of a sentence. Everyone is using that now it seems! In our house it is forbidden LOL.
I have heard “right?” at the end of sentences used frequently. Also “umm, like”, and “ ya know” interspersed in many informal AND formal conversations. It is irritating. As far as voice sounds, I do hear vocal fry on occasion and I notice men do it as well as women but women are more often chastised for it. Much of what else is mentioned here I’ve not heard or not noticed. For example, talking.with.periods.between.words! That’s a very strange one.
Perhaps I need to pay more attention to the bungled up speech patterns that are in use. Perhaps I’m better not to.
People use “Right?” as a complete sentence. It’s been shortened from “I know, right?” (Aka, “IKR?”) Why bother with all the words when you can trim it down to one. It’s just laziness (and somehow it’s become cool to sound lazy or bored). THAT is annoying.
I am relieved to find this list because listening to NPR has become impossible. Recently I have noticed what I call the “Consonant Drag” where the speaker is explaining something and they drag the consonants as if to give them “space” to think it out. I am “dropping the mike” now.
I have noticed a new one in speech and texts with 30 yr and younger females…
OKIE
used instead of OK
I see it in the office at work and from my 16 yr old Daughter.
Double negatives. They are rampant in the South. I’m a Southerner but I absolutely hate it.
“Don’t run into nobody!” (a parent to a child)
‘I don’t know nothing about that.”
“I don’t see nobody there.”
Double negatives scream, “I am uneducated!” I once changed my child’s preschool because his teacher said, “We ain’t got no time for that.” (Ain’t is another awful one.) I thought, “I am absolutely not going to have my child taught by this woman.”
Short a’s become like o’s–words like “class” and “that” are pronounce as “closs” and “thot.”
Excellent analysis!!! As a naturalized American citizen I am paying attention to my execution of sentences and the intonation. Yes, I have an accent, but I use proper English as my model to imitate. Suddenly I see the speech patterns that seem unnatural and improper. I am glad you are pointing them as incorrect and idiotic. A year ago I started a list of new words and phrases starting to appear in last 20 years. Also, old hardly known by an average individual, words, which are being now widely used. “Epic”, etc. I think, that new forms of expression are good because language is alive and new inventions created new vocabulary as well. However preservation of correct grammar, and beauty of the English language is important to me and I refuse to adapt botching of the language. New words, why not? Imitating neanderthals? No, thanks. Great job!
Thanks Ava for your note. We do a lot of VO recording work with China in particular in teaching English to school children, and are careful to provide proper grammar and usage in that regard. It’s interesting to see how the pureness of the English language can be “corrupted” in some ways, by modern speech patterns, mostly by native English speakers. I appreciate your attention to the proper usage of the English, especially since it’s NOT your native language, and the respect you hold for it.
I’m wondering if there is a name for a pattern I’m noticing – when people start listing bullet point details. First, they sound like they are pedaling up a hill. The voice goes up and slows down, theeeeeeeen, then they list detail 1, and detail two (pause) and detail three. Often they’ll be a ‘so’ tacked on to the start. I hear it on NPR a lot.
What is it called when people stress the end of the last few words of a sentence as if they are using. a. period. after. every word. ? I’ve been trying to find what this is called online, and not having any luck. Someone. Please. Help.
A long list of complaints I violently agree with. Also, add to The List the pronounciation of the word “food” as (something like), “fee-yood”, and “potato” and “soup” as, “pota-teeyoo” and “see-yoop”.
I’m not crazy – I’m being been driven there, though.
“Sh” to begin “start” and such, is New York City and environs, similar to “yuge”.
As in, “Yo, I’m tellin’ you, shtraight up, this thing is yuge, ‘aight?”
“Yes, no I don’t like all of those bad habits either…” AND the inverse “No, yes we should all be aware these speech patterns are happening increasingly.”
Great discussion on these affectations of speech, thank you.
HI Joan,
Your observations are wonderful & interesting. Most of us know the way we speak may change depending what social situation we’re in. I may be a little looser with my language, grammar, slang with my close girlfriend than in a business or unfamiliar situation. I find that more often there is not an understanding of why this might be appropriate, especially by my younger students & family members. Their thinking is that they are being fake if they “change up”. In that regard, there is clearly several areas where the linguistic phrases are a product of generation, e.g., texting shortcuts used in other contexts, borrowing from pop culture.
Other times I believe people fall into a speech pattern comfortable to them without questioning the outcomes of or reactions to their words, phrasing & delivery.
The Kardashions, though not typical, offer a great example of many of these trending patterns. Some of the family members have a better capacity to use words, language & phraseology than others that still use upspeak, vocalfry, text slang & whining. The difference in their abilities to communicate well, resolve conflicts, and reach desired goals with less confusion is notable. I don’t watch the show often, but find the interaction interesting & noticed the speech differences early on.
All the best to you in navigating our wonderful world of words!
Yet many here don’t seem to question their own speech patterns or prejudices. Many of these language offenses are just figures of speech and situational patois. Some of it likely occurs between people very familiar with each other. If none of you engage in such things, you’re likely guilty of the offense that led me to search for “endless monotone monologue of older Americans.” It can make engaging topics so boring, it makes death enticing.
YES. We can’t ignore our own speech patterns if we’re going to engage in this sort of discussion. And let’s not ignore the disproportionate amount of times speech pattern analysis (even here, in this comment section) is essentially just an excuse to satisfy a societal itch to hate things that are trending amongst young women.
There are plenty of valid points to be made about the speech patterns here, but how many of these comments boil down to, “I hate this regional / demographic lingual trend because I can’t relate to it” ?
I love this discussion! My purpose in searching phrases that led me here was the very annoying “yeah, no…” or visa versa.
Having a predilection for languages & words, combined with being a professional presenter for most of life, my ear is sensitive to all uses of phrasology; “blue”, high tone, trends, slang, “group ID”, annoying & more.
This post & comments are fun because though annoying is a subjective quality, some of these patterns & phrasing are widely undesirable.
My current most annoying list includes some new & old (along with my initial “yeah, no”): 1) Vocalfry, can actually hurt voice. 2) Adding “Sh” sound to words starting with ST, as mentioned in earlier comment. 3) Ordering at a restaurant or the like, saying “I’ll DO the…” instead of “l’ll order the… or I’ll have the…”.
4) Replacing the good old annoying “no problem” with the nearly arrogant “no worries”. Especially when hearing service providers use it after customers express thanks. That’said when I want to pause, shake my head a little & say “Wait, what?”. Thank you for a great opportunity to express & learn.
Love that…No problem. After thank you = no tip from me. Another one that I have not seen anyone else mention is ” does that make sense” after every sentence. Vocal fry is the most annoying thing on the planet to me. Instant shutdown.
I completely agree with the annoying “no problem” response from a server after saying “Thank you”. And also have heard “does that make sense?” from one particular Millenial. Seems to be a constant request for recognition…as if we somehow can’t stop to ask if we don’t understand something.
I found this sight because I searched to see if I was the only one annoyed by sentences starting with ‘So’ , which I find very annoying. I’m glad to discover I am not alone. I wonder if it’s the education system, or perhaps social media or television.
I have to wonder if schools still teach sentence diagrams. I recently discovered cursive writing has been dropped, so do schools no longer teach how to construct a sentence?
I also wonder with all the texting short cuts, have we created a new language? It irritates me to see UR instead of ‘you are’ or switched RU ,are you? Isn’t it enough that we can send a message in an instant without having to wait for a cursive written letter to arrive in weeks, but make it even faster with short cut spelling to arrive in a matter of seconds?
I must be getting old, I sound like my parents.
They probably started out as texting shortcuts, but the two I can’t stand are “LOL” crammed into every sentence, and “OMG” at the beginning of every sentence. I guess it works when communication is between persons with a combined vocabulary of less than 100 words, but for everyone else it’s extremely annoying.
Wonderful citations. May I add :
“The reason is because….”
“The problem is is that….”
Argggh!
Here’s another verbal habit that’s annoyed me to the point of pounding the wall. This often occurs when a person (on TV) is explaining the steps to any given process to another person:
“What I’m going to do is, I’m going to…” In 2nd person plural, “What we’re doing is, we’re going to…”
I’ve heard this a lot in the mid-Atlantic states, but lately it’s infested patterns of speech throughout the United States…how about Canada? Britain?
I meant “in first person plural.” [sheepish grin]
Let’s not forget the verbal infestation known as “seriously.” Clearly, it morphed perhaps by laziness from “Are you serious [about]?”
1) I call it ‘the shopping list’ speech pattern: ‘I went to the store and bought some EGGS.. got some MILK… and some BACON…’
2) I can’t stand the making every sentence sound like a question-
very prevalent among high school kids… and their teachers. ‘This morning in class? we had a surprise english test? and I was totally unprepared for it?’
3) HGTV shows are the worst for this offensive language.
3) but think back to TV shows or movies from the 1950s or 1940s, the Trans Atlantic accent and men sounding like radio show hosts. (ex. ‘I know my rights… I’m a tax payer!’). Unfortunately these offensive speech trends have been happening for many decades. But, these trends are needed- If they didn’t happen we would still be saying things like ‘Where Art Thou?’
For everyone posting examples of patterns, if it’s possible to include a link to a Youtube video that illustrates the example, that would really help everyone know exactly what you are talking about. If you can even record a sample of it and then create a short little video that you can upload to Youtube so it’s easy to share the audio, that would be good too.
Trying to describe some of these patterns is difficult, so examples would be very helpful!
The dropping of the “T” sound in the middle of words “Ki**en”, “Bu**on” is all over the place on radio and TV. I’ve seen talking heads on cable news panels do this ad-nauseum. This sounds immature (like a 5 year old), lazy and uneducated.
Here’s another one..
Pronouncing “str” like “shtr” as in “shtrong” “shtrange”. Likely popularized by Michelle Obama and Oprah. It’s an epidemic among millennial actors, hosts, and cable news panelists/contributors. I think it’s an attempt to sound more confident, self-assured and forceful. It’s definitely annoying! A big offender is Marie Harf (former FOX News Dem commentator and former Obama State Department Spokeswoman). One of her favorites is “Shtrategy”. But any word beginning with “ST” is impossible for this woman to pronounce correctly.
I came here to see if anyone else had noticed that young women are suddenly dropping the T sound in the middle of words—or if maybe they’d been doing it all along and I only just noticed and am now hearing it everywhere. Thanks for confirming that it’s a new thing.
I started listening to podcasts regularly in t