How speakers can eliminate ‘umm,’ ‘er,’ and other tics

Meaningless filler words and syllables make up more than 5% of our utterances according to Michael Erard, the author of “Um…Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean.”

Examples include “um,” “uh,” “er,” or a similar syllables, a repeated sound or word (such as “like”), a restarted sentence (a “let me start over” moment) or a repair (“What I meant to say”).

Verbal fillers tend to slip out when you are trying to collect your thoughts, offer a response, connect ideas, or think about the next thing you want to say, which pretty much sums up most conversations. They become problematic when they distract from your overall message or undermine your credibility.

Erard theorizes all those “umms,” “uhhs” and other vocal breaks became more of a problem when devices for audio playback were invented. Before that, such repetitions or hesitations were not singled out as the downfall of great oratory. When communicators could hear their own voices and linguistic imperfections, they immediately attempted to eliminate them.