• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

Just an observation...

Forums New posts
Jabbermocky

Jabbermocky

Paranormal Maven
I'm not a linguist but I do find an interest in searching for patterns in things. This often leads me to annoyance -- people who say "you know" or "like" too often in speech, for instance. For some reason I often find myself noticing patterns in what people say or in the way they say it. What I am about to put forward I have yet to really determine the reason -- but there are one or two similarities I have noticed in many of the expert guests you have on the show (as well as when they have appeared on other similarly-themed shows).
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:eek:ffice:eek:ffice" /><o:p> </o:p>
It began with someone that I know personally being interviewed on a paranormal show. He is a regional UFO expert and leads up a group; but he is also an instructor for a government department and I have taken a couple of courses of his in the past. What I noticed was that when asked a question he would always start his sentences with a chuckle as he spoke. It occurred to me as unusual -- especially or him, as I say, I had spent some time with this person in a Q&A format situation and had not come across that style of response. It was so frequent that not only did I find it somewhat annoying, I started to question the sincerity of his answers -- or at least the confidence he had in his own convictions.
<o:p> </o:p>
Several months later I was listening to Stanton Friedman and noticed exactly the same method of dealing with questions from hosts -- the laugh at the beginning sentences. But it wasn't just Stan, I began to notice other guests were doing the same thing. I now wonder if it is a sense of embarrassment that makes people respond in that way, perhaps an air of superiority -- as if to say, "I know what I am talking about -- so of course what I am about to say are the facts." Then again; maybe they are just being conciliatory. The pattern is there, what are others' thoughts?
 
"Like" and "you know" are ways English speaking people fill in space. It's pretty hard to control for many people when they are nervous, public speaking being an example. I've tried my best to control it, but I do catch myself saying both.
It in no way means that someone is lacking in intelligence though. I have had brilliant professors that used both when speaking. That doesn't make it any less distracting when you clue into it though.
 
At one time I listened to NPR on the way to work. Well, I still do on occassion but mostly I listen to a sports station or classic rock. Anyway, NPR had a certain reporter who was a veteran newsperson. But, he kind of clicked or his teeth or popped his lips a certain way. It was barely noticable but once I did notice it I couldn't listen to him anymore. It was to distracting. It's odd how you can zero in on something and then once you do it just takes center stage from there. :)
 
I agree that nervousness may be the reason for those little fillers (including uh and um). Though the examples I listed are all people accustomed to speaking to the public -- in large numbers--and I was wondering whether it had more to do with the subject matter at hand. One recommendation for those who notice that they tend to use these fillers is to look up your local Toastmasters Club. They are a great help for those wishing to learn or improve upon their public speaking skills.
 
Jerry Brett said:
I agree that nervousness may be the reason for those little fillers (including uh and um). Though the examples I listed are all people accustomed to speaking to the public -- in large numbers--and I was wondering whether it had more to do with the subject matter at hand. One recommendation for those who notice that they tend to use these fillers is to look up your local Toastmasters Club. They are a great help for those wishing to learn or improve upon their public speaking skills.
Click to expand...

It has absolutely nothing to do with the topic that the person is discussing. I hear fillers like that in all kinds of different topics.
 
Generally, noises and repetitive phrases ("you know" et al) are used as a sort stalling tactics, as the person frames the answer to the question. It's not a deliberate stall, just gives the person time to get his answer together. Most people do this. Some do it non-verbally, though, as in looking up and so on. Some take longer to process the question and think up a response.

Just my 2 cents, as my field was discourse psychology.
 
We've wandered off my original thoughts everso slightly here. I was more interested in the answering of questions by laughing as you speak that I noticed in several of the more experiences investigators interviewed, and maybe we could speculate under what circumstances each of us might do that in everyday life; e.g. embarassment, lack of conviction, conceit etc.
 
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes laughing before an answer is just a stalling tactic:)
Myself, I wouldn't read anything more into it than that.
 
In regards to the preamble chuckle, my personal interpretation of the examples you cite is indeed conciliatory.
A subconcious attempt to set the mood as being freindly.
 
Back
Top