Have you heard lecturers, speakers and public figures of all kinds who repeat over and over again a phrase to the point of exhaustion? That is a pet word: something they say in a recurrent way, that anyone uses to fill their speech, unconsciously.
As it is a word or a sound that does not apply a sense proper to the essence of what is sought to be transmitted, it is left hanging. And to be repeated again and again during the speech, bored, tired and transmits several unfortunate feelings: lack of preparation, insolvency in the subject, little lexicon, low professionalism, insecurity and fear to speak in public.
As it is a vocal effect produced in the mind of the person, they are used unconsciously in common speech, and, when they are in front of the public of any type, they also use them since they are part of their colloquial vocabulary.
This is a phenomenon that extends to all languages, and is more forceful in people with little reading, a very limited lexicon, or very nervous when exposed.
Observe yourself in everyday language, since you also use them all the time: you can start to correct yourself from there.
The exception are people who have suffered a brain injury that has affected speech or reasoning, in which, by force of their disease, they can apply them involuntarily, without noticing their recurrence.
Some of the most frequent are "this ...", "but ...", "eh ...", "to see ...", "do you understand?", "Does it make sense?", "Mmm ...", "likewise ..." , "No?", "Yes?", "OK", "But ...", "Nothing, that ...", "You know what?", "Truly", "Truly", "That's right". Do you recognize yourself in any?
There are also many people who, short of lexicon, use phrases to give themselves air of importance, adding terms as if they were to impact in a better way. Nothing else wrong: a speech full of snatches, such as those we observe in certain public figures, accounts for a terrible preparation, and totally blurs his communication.
In colloquial speech -the one you use on the street, with your friends and with the family-, people with higher education apply about 500 words on average -without counting what would be technical or professional terms-; those who have accessed middle school, about 350; those that have only completed the initial (primary) cycle, about 200; and people without instruction of any kind, move in around 120 words. The influence of social networks with their abbreviations, emoticons and slang of urban tribes, sometimes make them deteriorate even more the language of people.
It is up to each person to nourish themselves permanently, to expand their level of lexicon, especially if you face situations of lectures, speeches, classes with students or any other work that involves the use of your speech as one of the tools.
Eliminating this habit
The purposeof this is to enrich the quality of your presentation. The more precise the language, you will have greater opportunities to shine ;)
Here are 8 practical tricks to help you improve your language. As in any process, it is required that you practice it enough, since, being an unconscious habit, you must first of all make it conscious. And then, correct it.
Trick Number 1: Brake and pause. Most people think that being talkative and talking non-stop is a guarantee of rhythm. It may be a guarantee of speed, which is not the same. If you have difficulties, stop your oratory altogether, become aware of your difficulty, and continue to express the idea that follows. Silences in oratory are as valuable as in music.
Trick 2: Use bridge phrases. There are thousands of appropriate phrases that you can incorporate into your oratory, to establish bridges according to the meaning of what you express. These serve to accentuate your ideas. Some examples are: In addition, Likewise, I would like to emphasize that ...,A central idea of this aspect is, To move and advance, As we have seen, However, Advancing in this conference, and any other grammatical construction that allows to transmit content without being empty or hollow.
Trick 3: Repeat the last word of the previous paragraph. This is a simple resource to implement. Emphasize the last or last words you said; then, you pause for a second or two; and resume, repeating with another intonation the same as you expressed.