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Actually

Here's a fun game. Count how many times you use the word "actually".

I'm quite shocked how often we use that word as filler.

posted @ 8/24/2009 1:00:58 PM

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Linoge says:

on 8/24/2009 1:43:12 PM

Actually, it is actually better than actually saying "uhm".

Stuart_the_Viking says:

on 8/24/2009 4:02:54 PM

I recently noticed the same thing and it is now starting to annoy me. I am going on a verbal "Actually" diet... Not that I think it will really help.

Note: I had to delete the word actually 3 times in the writing of this comment.

Matt says:

on 8/24/2009 4:12:34 PM

I don't use it as often as one might think. Generally only in correction or clarification. That may seem odd given our identical professions but that seems to be the case for me.

Tirno says:

on 8/25/2009 9:56:37 AM

I once has a young airman in my weather station we were training to brief pilots. She kept using the word "basically" in her briefings. Everything was "basically" or "basic'ly". The wind was basic'ly from this direction. The cloud cover was basic'ly such and such.

I urged her to find some other words to fit into her speech pattern, as her usage of "basically" was so common that it was really obvious even to those who were briefed by her only once.

Finally, I had to resort to corporal punishment. I gave get a budget of three (3) "basically"s per briefing. After than, I would start going Sister Mary-Frances on her knuckles with this sturdy 18" wooden ruler, per offense.

Amazingly, her vocabulary improved, although it's amazing how many replacement filler words started with "bay" in the weeks that followed. The wind was bay-essentially coming from the southwest with the cloud cover bay-mostly overcast at 5000 feet...

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