Anonymous asked: “I have a terrible attachment with just. I use it way too much in my writing, and I know it’s one of those words you should avoid, along withveryandreally. The problem is I don’t know what words to replace it with.”
Just, very, andreally are what I’d call filler words. They don’t actually serve much of a purpose in writing unless they’re part of the voice and they don’t make much of an impact on the sentence.
In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but is not yet finished speaking. These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown.
InArabic, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) and وﷲ wallāh(i) (“by God”) are common fillers.[2][3][4]
InAmerican Sign Language,UM can be signed with open-8 held at chin, palm in, eyebrows down (similar to FAVORITE); or bilateral symmetric bent-V, palm out, repeated axial rotation of wrist (similar to QUOTE).
InCatalan,eh/ə/,doncs(“so”),llavors (“therefore”), and o sigui (“it means”) are common fillers.
InCzech,takortakže(“so”),prostě(“simply”),jako (“like”) are used as fillers. Čili (“or”) and že (“that”, a conjunction) might also be others. A person who says jakoandprostě as fillers might sound a bit simple-minded to others.[5]
InDutch,eh,ehm, and dus are some of the more common fillers.
InEsperanto,do (“therefore”) is the most common filler.
InFilipino,ah,eh,ay, and ano are the most common fillers.
InFinnish,niinku(“like”),tota, and öö are the most common fillers.
InFrench,euh /ø/ is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi(“what”),bah,ben(“well”),tu vois (“you see”), and eh bien (roughly “well”, as in “Well, I’m not sure”). Outside of France, other expressions are tu sais (“you know”), t’sais’veux dire? (“you know what I mean?”), or allez une fois (“go one time”). Additional filler words include genre(“kind”),comme (“like”), and style (“style”; “kind”)
InGerman, a more extensive series of filler words, called modal particles, exists, which actually do give the sentence some meaning. More traditional filler words are äh/ɛː/,hm,so/zoː/,tja, and eigentlich(“actually”)
InHebrew,eh is the most common filler. Em is also quite common.
InHindi,matlab (“it means”) and “Mah” are fillers.
InHungarian, common filler words include hát (well…) and asszongya (a variant of azt mondja, which means “it says here…”).
InIcelandic, a common filler is hérna(“here”).Þúst, a contraction of þú veist (“you know”), is popular among younger speakers.
InMandarin Chinese, speakers often say 这个 zhège/zhèige (“this”) or 那个 nàge/nèige (“that”). Another common filler is 就 jìu(“just/precisely”).
InNorwegian, common fillers are øh,altså,på en måte (“in a way”), ikke sant (literally “not true?”, “no kidding”, or “exactly”), vel (“well”), and liksom (“like”). In Bergen, sant (“true”) is often used instead of ikke sant. In the Trøndelag region, skjø’ (“see?” or “understand?”) is also a common filler.
InPersian,bebin (“you see”), چیز “chiz” (“thing”), and مثلا masalan (“for instance”) are commonly-used filler words. As well as in Arabic and Urdu, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) is also used in Persian. Also, eh is a common filler in Persian.
InPortuguese,tipo (“like”) is the most common filler.
InRomanian,deci /detʃʲ/ (“therefore”) is common, especially in school, and ă /ə/ is also very common (can be lengthened according to the pause in speech, rendered in writing as ăăă), whereas păi /pəj/ is widely used by almost anyone.
InRussian, fillers are called слова-паразиты (“vermin words”); the most common are Э-э(“eh”),это(“this”),того(“that”),ну(“well”),значит (“it means”), так(“so”),как его (“what’s it [called]”), типа (“like”), and как бы (“[just] like”).
InSerbian,znači (“means”) and ovaj (“this”) are common fillers.
InSlovak,oné(“that”),tento(“this”),proste (“simply”), or akože are used as fillers. The Hungarian izé(orizí in its Slovak pronunciation) can also be heard, especially in parts of the country with a large Hungarian population. Ta is a filler typical of Eastern Slovak and one of the most parodied features.
InSlovene,pač (“but”, although it has lost that meaning in colloquial, and it is used as a means of explanation), a ne? (“right?”), and no (“well”) are some of the fillers common in central Slovenia, including Ljubljana.
InSpanish, fillers are called muletillas. Some of the most common in American Spanisharee/e/,este (“this”), and o sea (roughly means “I mean”).[6], in Spain the previous fillers are also used, but ¿Vale? (“right?”) and ¿no? are very common too.
InSwedish, fillers are called utfyllningsord; some of the most common are öhm,ja(“yes”),ba (comes from “bara”, which means “just”), assåoralltså (“therefore”, “thus”), va (comes from “vad”, which means “what”), and liksomandtyp (both similar to the English “like”).
InUrdu,yani(“meaning…”),falan falan (“this and that”; “blah blah”), umm, and aaa are also common fillers.
InTelugu,ikkada entante (“Whats here is…”) and tarwatha (“then…”) are common and there are numerous like this.
InTamil,paatheenga-na (“if you see…”) and apparam (“then…”) are common.
InTurkish,yani(“meaning…”),şey (“thing”), “işte” (“that is”), and falan (“as such”, “so on”) are common fillers.
InWelsh,deorynde is used as a filler (loosely the equivalent of “You know?” or “Isn’t it?”). Ym…andY… are used similarly to the English “um…”.
Remember that this stuff is really important for fluency of speech. I’ve encountered a bad attitude among language teachers before: “we don’t teach filler words, because that’s not “normative” vocabulary, and it encourages students to sound unsure.” But that’s so, so wrong.
All people use filler words in conversation and even in formal settings. It’s a way to keep the flow of speech when the train of thought pauses; it holds the audience’s attention and actually helps maintain clarity of thought. What’s more, these words are instrumental for language learners, who need to pause more often in their speech than native speakers. Allowing them to pause without breaking into their language (saying a filler word in their language) or completely breaking the flow of their speech allows them to gain fluency faster.
My high school Japanese teacher did it right: “etto” and “anou” were in the second lesson. Teach filler words, people!! And if you’re studying a language and don’t know them, look at this list!! It has a lot!
Could add these to the Icelandic list:
sko
þarna
ee
uu
skilur(ð)u
tja
I’d translate слова-паразиты as “parasite words” not “vermin” words.
Also, Bulgarian: znachi(”it means” or “so”), ami, and aaa
Narrative Botox: Filler Words and Phrases to Look Out For
If you’re planning on publishing traditionally, chances are you keep a sharp eye on your word count. Literary agents and publishing houses are on the hunt for the best quality stories that they can print for the cheapest price (using the least paper and ink), so you have a higher chance of gaining representation if you can crank your novel out in the least words possible.
However, filler words and phrases aren’t only the enemies of aspiring traditional authors; every writer—fanfic, novelist, journalist, you name it!—should try to eliminate filler from their stories to assure more concise and high-quality writing. Oftentimes, filler contributes nothing but clutter, and without it, your narrative can flow smoother and in a more sophisticated manner.
But how do you know what’s filler and what’s not? Here are some tips on how to Ctrl+F and kick this narrative botox to the curb!
A writer’s worst enemy, and the bane of my manuscripts’ existences. Eliminating all the ‘just’s can cut down your word count by hundreds.
2. “That” as a conjunction
It’s an unnecessary addition to a sentence, which will be more streamlined without it.
Example: “He said thathe wouldn’t do it again.”
Revised: “He said he wouldn’t do it again.”
3.“Now” as an adverb
“Now” is essential if you’re talking about the past and present, but when you’re using it to draw attention to a particular statement or point.
Example:“Now, I didn’t think it’d get so out of hand.”
Revised:“I didn’t think it’d get so out of hand.”
4.Redundant adverbs
These adverbs serve no purpose because the verbs they’re describing already imply the way the action is performed.
Whispering softly
Yelling loudly
Crying sadly
Laughing happily
5. “Telling” words
These words are redundant, especially when using first person, because in describing an event, we can already assume that the characters are experiencing it.
Seeing/saw
Feeling/felt
Hearing/heard
Smelling/smelled
6. “Clarifying” words used to portray definiteness or indefiniteness
Although these are meant to help out the readers get their bearings on a situation, all they do is come across as wishy-washy! Be concise and sure of yourself!
About
Absolutely
Accordingly
Actually
Almost
Basically
Certainly
Clearly
Completely
Entirely
Even
Exactly
Fairly
Highly
Hopefully
Literally
Maybe
Only
Often
Oftentimes
Perhaps
Possibly
Probably
Quite
Rather
Really
Reasonably
Relatively
Seem
Seriously
Simply
Slightly
Some
Somehow
Sometimes
Totally
Very
Filler Phrases
1.“Let out (vocal noise)”
Use the verb instead!
Example: “He let out a sigh.”
Revised: “He sighed.”
2. Using passive voice
Passive voice inflates your word count by including various “to be” verbs into the prose. Passive voice involves actions happening to a subject rather than the subject performing an action, and as a result isn’t as riveting to the reader as active voice; even if it wasn’t a matter of word count, you’d still want to get rid of it anyway!
Example: “The boy was bitten by the dog on his arm.”
Revised: “The dog bit the boy on his arm.”
3. Describing the wrong noun
Many writers will be as specific as possible about what “thing” is affected by the event they’re describing, when it’s much simpler to take a step back and write about something more general.
Example:“The level of water rose.”
Revised: “The water rose.”
4. Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are the combination of two or three words from different grammatical categories—a verb and an adverb or a preposition—to form a single action. Usually, these phrasal verbs can be replaced by a single-word verb.
“Ask for” can be replaced with “request”
“Bring down” can be replaced with “reduce”
“Come across” can be replaced with “find”
Etc.
5. Clarifying phrases
Same reason as clarifying words. Get to the point!
A bit
A little
A lot
In a sense
Kind of
Sort of
6. Remember your contractions!
Even if your story takes place in olden times, I can guarantee that if you never use any contractions ever, your story’s gonna be a clunky mess. But sometimes you’re in the moment, consumed by the poetic power of the muses, and forget that this isn’t a soap opera; so make sure you check that you’ve been using your contractions!
It is, it was, it would, she is, would not, should not, is not, does not etc.
7. Inflated phrases
These phrases can be replaced with more concise words.
Along the lines of (shorten to: like)
As a matter of fact (in fact)
As to whether (whether)
At all times (always)
At the present (now or currently)
At this point in time (now or currently)
Be able to/would(n’t) be able to (could or couldn’t)
In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but is not yet finished speaking. These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown.
InArabic, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) and وﷲ wallāh(i) (“by God”) are common fillers.[2][3][4]
InAmerican Sign Language,UM can be signed with open-8 held at chin, palm in, eyebrows down (similar to FAVORITE); or bilateral symmetric bent-V, palm out, repeated axial rotation of wrist (similar to QUOTE).
InCatalan,eh/ə/,doncs(“so”),llavors (“therefore”), and o sigui (“it means”) are common fillers.
InCzech,takortakže(“so”),prostě(“simply”),jako (“like”) are used as fillers. Čili (“or”) and že (“that”, a conjunction) might also be others. A person who says jakoandprostě as fillers might sound a bit simple-minded to others.[5]
InDutch,eh,ehm, and dus are some of the more common fillers.
InEsperanto,do (“therefore”) is the most common filler.
InFilipino,ah,eh,ay, and ano are the most common fillers.
InFinnish,niinku(“like”),tota, and öö are the most common fillers.
InFrench,euh /ø/ is most common; other words used as fillers include quoi(“what”),bah,ben(“well”),tu vois (“you see”), and eh bien (roughly “well”, as in “Well, I’m not sure”). Outside of France, other expressions are tu sais (“you know”), t’sais’veux dire? (“you know what I mean?”), or allez une fois (“go one time”). Additional filler words include genre(“kind”),comme (“like”), and style (“style”; “kind”)
InGerman, a more extensive series of filler words, called modal particles, exists, which actually do give the sentence some meaning. More traditional filler words are äh/ɛː/,hm,so/zoː/,tja, and eigentlich(“actually”)
InHebrew,eh is the most common filler. Em is also quite common.
InHindi,matlab (“it means”) and “Mah” are fillers.
InHungarian, common filler words include hát (well…) and asszongya (a variant of azt mondja, which means “it says here…”).
InIcelandic, a common filler is hérna(“here”).Þúst, a contraction of þú veist (“you know”), is popular among younger speakers.
InMandarin Chinese, speakers often say 这个 zhège/zhèige (“this”) or 那个 nàge/nèige (“that”). Another common filler is 就 jìu(“just/precisely”).
InNorwegian, common fillers are øh,altså,på en måte (“in a way”), ikke sant (literally “not true?”, “no kidding”, or “exactly”), vel (“well”), and liksom (“like”). In Bergen, sant (“true”) is often used instead of ikke sant. In the Trøndelag region, skjø’ (“see?” or “understand?”) is also a common filler.
InPersian,bebin (“you see”), چیز “chiz” (“thing”), and مثلا masalan (“for instance”) are commonly-used filler words. As well as in Arabic and Urdu, يعني yaʿni (“I mean”) is also used in Persian. Also, eh is a common filler in Persian.
InPortuguese,tipo (“like”) is the most common filler.
InRomanian,deci /detʃʲ/ (“therefore”) is common, especially in school, and ă /ə/ is also very common (can be lengthened according to the pause in speech, rendered in writing as ăăă), whereas păi /pəj/ is widely used by almost anyone.
InRussian, fillers are called слова-паразиты (“vermin words”); the most common are Э-э(“eh”),это(“this”),того(“that”),ну(“well”),значит (“it means”), так(“so”),как его (“what’s it [called]”), типа (“like”), and как бы (“[just] like”).
InSerbian,znači (“means”) and ovaj (“this”) are common fillers.
InSlovak,oné(“that”),tento(“this”),proste (“simply”), or akože are used as fillers. The Hungarian izé(orizí in its Slovak pronunciation) can also be heard, especially in parts of the country with a large Hungarian population. Ta is a filler typical of Eastern Slovak and one of the most parodied features.
InSlovene,pač (“but”, although it has lost that meaning in colloquial, and it is used as a means of explanation), a ne? (“right?”), and no (“well”) are some of the fillers common in central Slovenia, including Ljubljana.
InSpanish, fillers are called muletillas. Some of the most common in American Spanisharee/e/,este (“this”), and o sea (roughly means “I mean”).[6], in Spain the previous fillers are also used, but ¿Vale? (“right?”) and ¿no? are very common too.
InSwedish, fillers are called utfyllningsord; some of the most common are öhm,ja(“yes”),ba (comes from “bara”, which means “just”), assåoralltså (“therefore”, “thus”), va (comes from “vad”, which means “what”), and liksomandtyp (both similar to the English “like”).
InUrdu,yani(“meaning…”),falan falan (“this and that”; “blah blah”), umm, and aaa are also common fillers.
InTelugu,ikkada entante (“Whats here is…”) and tarwatha (“then…”) are common and there are numerous like this.
InTamil,paatheenga-na (“if you see…”) and apparam (“then…”) are common.
InTurkish,yani(“meaning…”),şey (“thing”), “işte” (“that is”), and falan (“as such”, “so on”) are common fillers.
InWelsh,deorynde is used as a filler (loosely the equivalent of “You know?” or “Isn’t it?”). Ym…andY… are used similarly to the English “um…”.
Remember that this stuff is really important for fluency of speech. I’ve encountered a bad attitude among language teachers before: “we don’t teach filler words, because that’s not “normative” vocabulary, and it encourages students to sound unsure.” But that’s so, so wrong.
All people use filler words in conversation and even in formal settings. It’s a way to keep the flow of speech when the train of thought pauses; it holds the audience’s attention and actually helps maintain clarity of thought. What’s more, these words are instrumental for language learners, who need to pause more often in their speech than native speakers. Allowing them to pause without breaking into their language (saying a filler word in their language) or completely breaking the flow of their speech allows them to gain fluency faster.
My high school Japanese teacher did it right: “etto” and “anou” were in the second lesson. Teach filler words, people!! And if you’re studying a language and don’t know them, look at this list!! It has a lot!
Important because now I can be a dumb bitch in more than one language. Thank you!
Quebec French additions: fakorfa’que (contraction of “ça fait que”, meaning so) and tsé (shortened, differently-pronounced version of the French “tu sais”, meaning you know).
Everyone has that one friend who punctuates every sentence with that one phrase, be it “you know,” “okay,” or “totally.” “Like,” one of the most common American filler words, is another symptom of our apology epidemic (What, did we all become Canadian or something? At least we haven’t adopted ‘eh’ yet) Why do us young folk, girls especially, adopt the filler word that makes us sound so, like, dumb?
A lot of attention has surfaced recently on female’s overuse of the word ‘sorry.’ It signifies our tendency, as a females in the workplace and in relationships, to apologize and blame ourselves for simple miscommunications or mistakes. Allegedly, men in similar situations blame coincidence, other people, or their surroundings for problems that women would assume blame for. 'Like’ has a similar use.
I can distinctly remember when I picked up the word, because it was on purpose. I was sort of the Hermione Granger of my elementary school, and my unabashed know-it-allness lasted through third or fourth grade. It was somewhere in those two years, though, that I realized raising my hand for every question wasn’t the easiest or quickest way to make friends or impress people, and I started dumbing myself down.
A teacher called on me, and I started to answer, but realized midway that I sounded like the obnoxious nerd that I was/am. “…like, 92?” I finished, with the upward, questioning swing at the end of a statement I knew was correct. And there it all began: my plunge into what quickly became one of my biggest vices.
Sweeping, dramatic statements about my childhood identity crises aside, the ‘like’ epidemic is another example of girls increasingly afraid to overstep, speak too loudly, or demand too much attention. Even now, as a teenager with strong opinions and a blog to match, even, I find myself tripping over words like ‘like’ or ‘you know’ for fear of coming off too bullheaded in discussions. As someone who puts a lot of effort into both becoming smarter and (to be frank) coming across as smarter than I actually am, why have I, along with millions of others, chosen to sound like such a valley girl?
