[B0btheBuilder]

Actors, comedians, and politicians all have memorized scripts, lines, routines, and soundbites. I'm very curious as to what hathawsh's eventual answer to baxtr's question will be, because I consider their comment at the top of this thread to be utterly counterproductive and unhelpful. Oftentimes, HN threads have a top comment that is contradictory to the post for the sake of being contradictory. In this case, the comment is both contradictory and harmful. Literally no one learning or teaching communication says that "uh" and "um" are good habits. In fact, I would go even further than the article asserts and claim that I succeed socially the more silent I am. People are self-absorbed; they like people who listen to them.

[hathawsh]

The Wikipedia article on formulaic language (pointed out by another commenter, thank you!) is helpful here.

"There is strong empirical evidence that speakers use formulaic language in similar ways across languages and that formulaic language plays a fundamental role in the structuring of spontaneous speech, as they are used to achieve a better synchronization between interlocutors by announcing upcoming topic changes, delays related to planning load or preparedness problems, as well as speaker's intentions to take/give the floor or to revise/abandon an expression he/she had already presented."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formulaic_language (citing a 2007 study)

In conversation, formulaic language can help you seem more relatable to other people. Think of Indiana Jones, the beloved hero who often used formulaic language to express himself, as compared with the villains, who barely varied from perfectly formed sentences. You can see the same pattern in countless stories because the writers target an audience that feels more comfortable with people who talk that way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmkJ0lrCpLQ

[CharlesW]

> Actors, comedians, and politicians all have memorized scripts, lines, routines, and soundbites.

They recite some of the time, but most their overall speech is improvised. Generally, people in these kinds of roles are pretty good at that too.

> In this case, the comment is both contradictory and harmful. Literally no one learning or teaching communication says that "uh" and "um" are good habits.

It depends on how meta you want to get. As a beginner learning how to give speeches, you work to expunge these kinds of "filler" words. However, at "expert level" you might use these words to seem more "authentic", and/or to appear as if you're forming thoughts for the first time.

It depends on the audience and what you're trying to communicate, which goes beyond what you say to how you say it.