The Language Diet

Date September 23, 2008

Kiwi by Sh0dan

After listening to myself speak constantly for a week while doing training recently, I’ve come to the the rather obvious realisation that my use of language, well, sucks pretty hard. My knowledge of language is fine, better than fine, really – I’m an editor, it’s my job. However, my day-to-day speech, and even that used while giving presentations and training, is atrocious.

Therefore, I present a short list of words and phrases I will be actively avoiding, in the interest of my own self-respect and out of consideration to anyone else in earshot. Think of it as a Language Diet. I won’t be losing weight, but I’ll feel a hell of a lot better about myself. Please feel free to join me in this journey of self-improvement or suggest anything else that needs to be added, I’m sure there’s a whole lot more that can be put on the list. Here we go:

  • Like
  • Stuff
  • Guys
  • Yeah
  • Nah
  • It’s like
  • Hey
  • And all that
  • And everything
  • Stuff like that
  • With respect to
  • In terms of
  • Soooo
  • Um
  • And then
  • Goes
  • Awesome
  • You know
  • Obviously
  • Affect
  • Particularly
  • I
  • Uh huh
  • I reckon
  • Sweet
  • I see what you’re saying
  • Oh, ok
  • In that
  • Doin’
  • Whatever
  • Yeah, coz
  • Yeah, but
  • ‘Spose
  • Like (again, because it needs to be here twice)

This should limit my conversations somewhat, but I also think it could act like an 80/20 filter: I’d wager that 80% of what comes out of my mouth is on that list, while the other 20% is probably what I’m trying to say in the first place. Next up is gross overuse of commas…

Category Posted in Fun

  • Hey Simon,

    So it's been a while since you made this post. How's the speaking going? :)

    My own "word" to avoid is "errrm". I remember when I recorded my first video blog. It was five minutes long and there must have been 30 "errms". When it came around to the next video blog, I actively tried to remove them from my speech. Two or three worked their way in there but overall it was much improved.

    Jamie
  • Hey Jamie, thanks for dropping by. I made a bit of an improvement by the end of the training sessions, but there's always going to be room for improvement!

    Errrms are a big one for me too. I'm trying to work out something to replace them with and I'm just pausing for a bit each time at the moment (errrming in my head, rather than out loud). This gives me a chance to work out where to go next without looking too obvious :)

    I'll drop by and check out your videos, I won't be looking out for the errms though!
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