I've been subjected to a lot of meetings lately, where various speakers would get up to go over policies, procedures, etc.  I've noticed that many people, instead of pausing between sentences or paragraphs, feel the need to keep vocalizing.  So they use "fillers."

Some examples:

1.  Uhm

2.  Uh

3.  Basically

4.  Y'know

5.  Like


I once made a game out of counting how many times a couple people used their special filler word during 1 or 2 minutes of talking, and it was pretty amazing.

Anyone else notice this, and if so, what filler words have you heard used a lot?

Uhm, basically it's like......you know.








You did know it was coming, right?

Here we go Uh Um... Public speaking nazi...

Speaking in front of an audience is not easy.

The worst public speakers read from power point slides....
Just sit the fuck down and let me read the damned slides if your going to do that...
The military does a lot of that shit...death by powerpoint..

Where I work it is damnit and fuck. Gotta love those hilbillys.

"...ya know what I'm sayin'?"

"...and what-not..."

um........shit.fuck.piss,cunt ,cocksucker,motherfucker and tits.those are Filler words!!............lol......Thank YOU George!

You left off "actually"

... I just love that one.

I make it a point NOT to use any filler words, but occasionally I'll say "um".  Usually if I don't know what word to say next I'll try to just be silent.  Listening to others speak, especially fellow college students talking in front of the class, I have decided that I will NEVER be as hard to listen to as them.

Well.....

Certainly a deep subject... You can eve do combinations.

Ummm, well, like, you know, hmmmmm...


Bob

At all my meetings I have one chick who's about 22, she alway gives me the looooong stare when she's speaking and I hate when she does that. I don't know if she really see's me or just looking thru me. It feels like she is speaking to me only when there are 5-10 others in the room. Her favorite word is (kindof)

My favorites are ....."see what I'm sayin', yo" and "aw-ight."


Me an my homies was cruzin yo...se what I'm sayin'.  And the popo's they come busting up on us yo, see what I'm sayin'.  So I sez to my homie, yo homes, yo yo yo...pull it over, the popo's pissed yo, see what I'm sayin'.  He sez aw-ight yo...see what I'm sayin'.

We are told to keep talking why we do stuff at work.  More then a 10 sec pause counts against us, so we have to make up stuff or BS alot

Do you keep falling asleep in staff meetings?

What about those long and boring conference calls?
Here's a way to change all of that:  

1. Before (or during) your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare your "Bullshit Bingo" card by drawing a square -- I find that 5" x 5" is a good size -- and dividing it into columns --five across and five down. That will give you 25 1-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:

Synergy
Strategic fit
Core competencies
Turbulent environment
Out of the box
Pushback
Bottom line
Revisit
Take that off-line
24/7
Out of the loop
Benchmark
Value-added
Proactive
Bandwidth
Win-win
Think outside the box
Fast track
Results-driven
Paradigm
Empower (or empowerment)
Knowledge base
At the end of the day
Touch base
Mindset
Client focus(ed) or Customer focus(ed)
Ballpark
Game plan
Scenario
Leverage
Cascade
Sequential or sequentially

3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.

4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"

Testimonials from satisfied "Bullshit Bingo" players:

"I had been in the meeting for only five minutes when I won."
- Jack W., Boston

"My attention span at meetings has improved dramatically."
- David D., Florida

"What a gas! Meetings will never be the same for me after my first win."
- Bill R., New York City

“The atmosphere was tense in the last process meeting as 14 of us waited for the fifth box."
- Ben G., Denver

"The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed "BULLSHIT!" for the third time in two hours."
- Harry A, Chantilly

"Thanks Bingo creator for thinking outside the box and proactively creating this value-added knowledgebase that is a strategic fit with my core competencies and current client focused mindset. I can leverage our existing process and exploit the inherent synergies to expand the knowledgebase to cater to our result driven folks who will work 24/7 to put it on a fast-track. This cascading game-plan is what I call a truly win-win situation."
- Swami S, Sunnyvale, CA

Quoted: "Thanks Bingo creator for thinking outside the box and proactively creating this value-added knowledgebase that is a strategic fit with my core competencies and current client focused mindset. I can leverage our existing process and exploit the inherent synergies to expand the knowledgebase to cater to our result driven folks who will work 24/7 to put it on a fast-track. This cascading game-plan is what I call a truly win-win situation." - Swami S, Sunnyvale, CA

Or, when someone is talking to you that you are trying to ignore, and they keep asking, "Ya heard me?  Ya heard me?"   I usually end up sayin "STFU and go away."

"Yo!... (yada-yada-yada...)"  As bad as "Like..." every third word.

Aside to pale_pony.... that last paragraph sounds like my company's meetings.  I think I'll pass out Bullshit Bingo cards at the next one.

Any time I speak in front of a group, I ask somebody that I know to count the number of "fillers".  It is tough to hear them yourself when trying to do everything else correctly.  As a listener, it can become so distracting that I ignore everything they are saying.

It really pisses me off to hear people doing it on the radio, not call-in folks of course but those employed to speak on the air.  Why they are hired without basic skills is beyond me.

Quoted: Here we go Uh Um... Public speaking nazi... Speaking in front of an audience is not easy. The worst public speakers read from power point slides.... Just sit the fuck down and let me read the damned slides if your going to do that... The military does a lot of that shit...death by powerpoint..

Stand up and tell them Powerpoint is like airpower.  It is a tool, but it can't win a war in and of itself.  Speaker needs content, etc.

Powerpoint = Airpower
Knowing what the fuck your doing = Infantry

Well umm..... did you get the memo on the TPS reports?

I once counted how many times that Sarah said like in 2 minutes


She used it 37 times

She was also not happy when I told her that she had used it 37 times

Quoted: I once counted how many times that Sarah said like in 2 minutes She used it 37 times She was also not happy when I told her that she had used it 37 times

You know what you SHOULD have told her to do in those two minutes, don't you?