No, I don't know!

[IDrinkaRum]

I was listening to whatever sports tv channel my husband was watching. (I'm playing my Nintendo DS ).

Anyway, 2 different athletes kept saying "You know" at. the. end. of. each. sentence. And then they started to put them in the middle of their sentences.

I don't know what you're talking about! Please tell me!

Sorry, it's just, you know, a peeve of mine. ()

[Greenday]

Back in high school, one of my teacher's would rip into people for saying stuff like, "Like...like..." or "Ummmmmm..." or "You know..." It was funny how they'd think it was unfair to get points docked for it. Well, it's not proper speech so suck it.

[lordlundar]

Back in high school, one of my teacher's would rip into people for saying stuff like, "Like...like..." or "Ummmmmm..." or "You know..." It was funny how they'd think it was unfair to get points docked for it. Well, it's not proper speech so suck it.

I had a similar experience. It certainly is a fast way to learn to avoid it.

[Boozy]

I sometimes feel badly for athletes getting interviewed. Their training is in athletics, not public speaking. And here they are, on national TV, sometimes only seconds after a big win or loss, still full of adrenaline...and they are expected to speak eloquently about what just happened.

I'll bet more than once one of them has sat down in the dressing room ten minutes later, slapped his forehead, turned to his team mate beside him, and said, "Oh shit, Bob! Did I just say '110 percent'? Tell me I didn't just say '110 percent' on national TV!"

[AdminAssistant]

Eh, I don't, but I've seen/had too many athletes as students, and in a college where sports is HUGE it's a big pain in the tukkus. University athletes get their tuition paid, room and board, books paid for - everything. So take a public speaking class or have me make fun of you sounding like a moron. Of course, if they pay as much attention in those classes as they do in Intro to Theatre it probably won't help.

[Greenday]

Eh, I don't, but I've seen/had too many athletes as students, and in a college where sports is HUGE it's a big pain in the tukkus. University athletes get their tuition paid, room and board, books paid for - everything. So take a public speaking class or have me make fun of you sounding like a moron. Of course, if they pay as much attention in those classes as they do in Intro to Theatre it probably won't help.

Public speaking is a requirement at like every major college. But let's be serious, these guys aren't expected to be eloquent at all. They are payed to kick ass and take names.

[protege]

Sorry, it's just, you know, a peeve of mine. ()

I can't stand that either. But, it's not just the athletes--watch Maury Povich or Jerry Springer sometime--nearly every idiot on that show just *has* to end every damn sentence with "you know what I'm sayin'?" Part of me wants to scream "No, you fucking moron!"

Then there are the idiots who say "like" as every third word. I don't know about you all, but that's annoying as hell.

[IDrinkaRum]

Well, like you know ....

GAH!

I think my brain and head exploded into flames.

Ahem ... well, yes, the word "like" when not used properly is annoying as heck too.

That's it ... when <insert sport here> practice is over for the day, the teams have to be taught public speaking.

All in favor?

[AdminAssistant]

Aye!

I was talking to BoyThing on the phone today (racking, fracking boys grrr...) I noticed how he was peppering "you know?" in every sentence, and sometimes ending with "You know what I mean?"

AAAHHHH!!!

[Rapscallion]

Ah, the good old interrogative. Over here, the younger Londonlanders tend to use 'innit' (isn't it) to end a sentence, or 'you know what I mean?'. If you're conscious of such, though, you can eliminate this from your conversation and you will no longer be automatically seeking the other person's permission/approval, and you gain a mental upper hand.

Try it - think of it as a survival trait

Rapscallion

[Greenday]

What really bothers me is how a lot of people from Pennsylvania add "awhile" to their sentences, even if it doesn't fit. I don't get it. Not like "This is going to take awhile." They'll put the word awhile into any sentence. Crazy Pennsylvanians...

[Shards]

Do we? I was born in PA, I was raised in PA, I'm just about to leave PA, and I've never noticed that specific trend.

Anyway, quite frankly I think eloquence in language is severely overrated. I hated my speach class in high school (I took it willingly), and almost always got sub-optimal grades on my performances, and the feedback was the same every fucking time: 'Your speech was well delivered, but far too informal.' So, you're telling me that I got a C- on my ten minute report, which was delivered with only two or three breaks, which were momentary pauses, not filler words, when I never once broke eye contact with the audience, and I obviously knew what I was talking about and got my peers into it, but Johney-black-tie over there who got dressed up, and spoke approximately two decibels above the volume of a light breeze, who never once looked up from his paper and couldn't answer a single extraneous question about his topic got an 'A' because his script looked like something out of a Harvard Latin textbook? The entire point of a speech is to convey information to the audience, and using the language that said audience in familiar with is a better tool with which to do that than flowery words off an SAT prep-sheet that nobody has ever heard of.

Grrr. Sorry for the rant, I suppose I just had a bad experience. What I'm trying to point out is that although many people don't take public speaking seriously enough (lord knows I don't, I just learned what I could about my topic, and then got in front of people and started talking to them), the other extreme can be just as annoying, and far more difficult to decipher.

[Greenday]

Sucks, Shards. When I took Public Speaking in college, our grades were based on how much we improved, not how good we were. So it was totally possible to get a worse grade than someone who was not as good at speaking as you. Lame.

[Boozy]

Ah, the good old interrogative. Over here, the younger Londonlanders tend to use 'innit' (isn't it) to end a sentence, or 'you know what I mean?'. If you're conscious of such, though, you can eliminate this from your conversation and you will no longer be automatically seeking the other person's permission/approval, and you gain a mental upper hand.

"Ya know" is to Americans as "Innit" is to Londoners as "Eh?" is to Eastern Canadians.

I'm ashamed to say that I am a stereotype. I use "eh" all the time. I'm having trouble breaking myself of it.

[Slytovhand]

Shards - that sucks!!! The big one!

What gets to me is 'awhile' and 'alot' in text... those words don't exist. It's 'a while' and 'a lot'...ya know.

It would appear that most areas have their idiiosynchracies (sp? - brain has just died!)