Comments on: “Certainly the End of Something or Other, One Would Sort of Have to Think” https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/11/18/certainly-the-end-of-something-or-other-one-would-sort-of-have-to-think/  Informing Minds. Moving Hearts. Directing Hands. Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:08:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.41 By: To be honest, this is kinda helpful « The Wanderer https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/11/18/certainly-the-end-of-something-or-other-one-would-sort-of-have-to-think/#comment-4327 Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:36:18 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=5083#comment-4327 [...] Murray, drawing on Jerry Weissman, tells us that every filler word or phrase devalues the family jewels, the nouns and verbs that represent the [...]

]]> By: SomeGuy https://headhearthand.org/blog/2011/11/18/certainly-the-end-of-something-or-other-one-would-sort-of-have-to-think/#comment-4326 Fri, 18 Nov 2011 15:27:12 +0000 http://headhearthand.org/?p=5083#comment-4326 There are many.

People who pad out prayers with the word “just” – “we just pray” “we just thank you”. Just say it without using “just”.

People who use the word “utilize” instead of “use”. Please stop using extra air and say “use”.

Meaningless intensifiers like “extremely” “very” etc which are so overused they don’t add anything.

Almost every speaker has verbal tics like “now” and “listen” – when used appropriately as transitions, they’re fine and add some character, but when used excessively, they get annoying.

“Quote/unquote” when used in any way other than to indicate literal speech. (If you use your fingers to make quotation marks in the air, you should have them chopped off.)

An interesting discussion of removing the fluff from your speech can be found in Patrick Allitt’s “The Art of Teaching” series. He has a whole session on this issue.

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