Why Do We Say It?
By Sparafucile
January 2008
We are often silently amused when someone includes in his/her conversation such sparkling gems as: “Ya wanna know sumpthin'?”, “I myself”, “per se”, “Get me?”, “The reason is, is...”, “basically”, “I'll be truthful”, “anyways”, and myriad of other idiocies. I have mostly (basically?) resigned myself to not only these beauties, but also to the cerebral TMIs such as “well”, “ah”, “uh”, sprinkled over their conversations like jimmies on a bagel. However, I find myself unable to accept a more thoughtless misspeak such as I have recently encountered, to wit:
On a recent trip to a foreign country, I noticed a jarring “glottal/mental stop” in the conversation of the aborigines. They appeared to be unable to end a phrase, clause or sentence without adding a strange syllable which sounded a lot like “y'no”. It added no sensible information, nor did they appear to realize that it was being uttered. Fortunately, I spent only three days enduring that strange barrage. I returned to the good Ole US of A with a fervent hope that this abomination never spreads to other parts of the world, particularly here.
Copyright © 2008 Edward Raymond.
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