Banishing "Um" "Ya know" "Like"

Patrica Kitchen, writing in Newsday reports Interview Stream.com monitors and exposes celebrities use of filler language such as "likes," "umms," "ya knows," "I means." The company
has announced an "Umm Like All-Star" list which includes Britney Spears, "who was caught uttering 73 "likes" and "ya knows" in a five-minute video interview on YouTube."

Neither Paris Hilton nor Nicole Richie made the list. The underlying concept "is to bring students' attention to the overuse of such 'verbal crutches' when they go on job interviews."

"Other offenders found at InterviewStream.com's companion site, UmmLike.com, include Eminem and Michelle Wie, "who used 15 'ya knows' and 'I means' in a one-minute interview. "

"A certain number of fillers are normal, but when speakers flip into overuse, they can come across as unfocused and unprepared," says Judy Cavallo, a speech-language pathologist and director of New York Speech Solutions, which evaluates and treats speech disorders, in Oyster Bay. Her first step is to heighten awareness among clients, who are "usually shocked" when she plays back tape recordings of them speaking.