It's like, you know...
Chang's 3rd Law of Human Behavior
The first step to overcoming a bad habit is becoming hyper-aware of it.
That's just my fancy appropriation of G.I. Joe.
My first year at Google, I went through presentation training that included a videotaped session, and it was a godsend. I was horrified by the number of ums I managed to utter in a three-minute presentation. Every damn sentence started with an um. I never even realized I was doing it. But once the problem got shoved in my face, I was able to quickly overcome it.
Now I'm facing a much tougher challenge. On Thanksgiving, I was picking on Leslie for her funny Canadian accent (redundant, I know). Offense is OH-fence instead of AW-fence. Against is uh-GAINst instead of uh-GHENst. And let's not even get into about, hey?
Naturally, this led to a discussion of my own quirks, and much to my surprise, I was told that I peppered my speech with like and you know. Hmm, I had never noticed this before...
But thereafter, every time I spoke, I was totally self-conscious of the fact that I was indeed using like or you know at least once or twice per sentence, sometimes more! It was true! How had I developed such an awful habit?
So now I'm, you know, in the process of exorcising the demons. Like, I might struggle to say even the most simple things as I like consciously search for a way to say them without using the forbidden words. It shocks me to see how pervasive it has become in my everyday speech and how difficult it has been to overcome. But I'm getting there, and I've, you know, already noticed some improvement this week, though it has also led to some painfully long pauses at times. It's difficult to speak coherently while simultaneously trying to figure out if the like I'm about to utter is a legitimate use of the word or one that must be avoided at all costs. The ums were easy to overcome, because they're always bad.
Now that I'm hyper-aware of it, I've also noticed that pretty much everyone with whom I speak does it, too. How did we all get here? Do we all just feel the need to qualify everything we say (like) and seek validation from those to whom we say it (you know)? I thought it might be a California thing, but it most certainly is not. It afflicts New Yorkers and Oregonians alike (you know who you are).
I have Written/Oral Advocacy next semester, so I have to get my shit together by then.
You must unlearn what you have learned.
The first step to overcoming a bad habit is becoming hyper-aware of it.
That's just my fancy appropriation of G.I. Joe.
My first year at Google, I went through presentation training that included a videotaped session, and it was a godsend. I was horrified by the number of ums I managed to utter in a three-minute presentation. Every damn sentence started with an um. I never even realized I was doing it. But once the problem got shoved in my face, I was able to quickly overcome it.
Now I'm facing a much tougher challenge. On Thanksgiving, I was picking on Leslie for her funny Canadian accent (redundant, I know). Offense is OH-fence instead of AW-fence. Against is uh-GAINst instead of uh-GHENst. And let's not even get into about, hey?
Naturally, this led to a discussion of my own quirks, and much to my surprise, I was told that I peppered my speech with like and you know. Hmm, I had never noticed this before...
But thereafter, every time I spoke, I was totally self-conscious of the fact that I was indeed using like or you know at least once or twice per sentence, sometimes more! It was true! How had I developed such an awful habit?
So now I'm, you know, in the process of exorcising the demons. Like, I might struggle to say even the most simple things as I like consciously search for a way to say them without using the forbidden words. It shocks me to see how pervasive it has become in my everyday speech and how difficult it has been to overcome. But I'm getting there, and I've, you know, already noticed some improvement this week, though it has also led to some painfully long pauses at times. It's difficult to speak coherently while simultaneously trying to figure out if the like I'm about to utter is a legitimate use of the word or one that must be avoided at all costs. The ums were easy to overcome, because they're always bad.
Now that I'm hyper-aware of it, I've also noticed that pretty much everyone with whom I speak does it, too. How did we all get here? Do we all just feel the need to qualify everything we say (like) and seek validation from those to whom we say it (you know)? I thought it might be a California thing, but it most certainly is not. It afflicts New Yorkers and Oregonians alike (you know who you are).
I have Written/Oral Advocacy next semester, so I have to get my shit together by then.
You must unlearn what you have learned.
posted by Chang Kim at Thursday, November 29, 2007
3 Comments:
you are just bitter Leslie and I talk properly, eh?
Dude, I totally know what you are talking about, you know?
Is that proh-perly or praw-perly?
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