The "You Know" Pandemic

[baseball_99]

Just an observation and not that I'm a great public speaker in any way..... Is it me or are there a lot more people out there saying "You know" mid-sentence?

I don't mean footballers doing a live interview straight after a game but I'm hearing this on television , radio, colleagues at work.

I get it's used subconsciously and to give the speaker a couple of seconds to get their brain in gear etc but I'm now hearing this in everyday conversation...... "Had a lovely meal last night, you know...."

Maybe lockdown has had something to do with and possibly the art of conversation has slightly deteriorated.

[threechilliman]

People on telly starting a sentence with the word 'so' is  another one.

[Strawberry]

People on telly starting a sentence with the word 'so' is  another one.

Or people ending a sentence with so.....

...so what?

[willie loman]

difficult to know the reason, i uses the term, i mean, often as a filler, but some people use"like" in every sentence, i sit on the bus counting.

[Punterperson1971]

And some times say’you get me’

[MilleMiglia]

Another, recent, development seems to be finishing sentences with "already".

[Moby Dick]

More end of sentence, when they don’t know what else to say, you know....

I think it’s, like, become the shorter version of “you know what I mean, Arry” init?

I can’t stop meself saying “FLUFFY CUNTS” at any opportunity, but i think I’ve got a mild version of Tourette’s, you know...

[standardpostage]

I think that "you know" is a Liverpool expression 

Different parts of the country, most probably, use different expressions.

People seem to use the expression "cool" a lot nowadays.

[Lou2019]

Innit

[houseboot]

"You know pandemic"? Nah

You know I was like sitting on the bus like when my phone rang like and it was my mate like and he said like would I like to meet up at the pub like and I said like I'm sorry like but I can't tonight because like I like find like that when you've like been sat on the bus like you end up with like a bad attack of likeitis you know.

 

[webpunter]

using the word 'personally' before or after 'I' [did whatever]

as an example - from goggle

I went to see him personally
This is an example of verbal tautology, because the adverb "personally" repeats the idea already expressed in the single word "I". ...
Technically, the word "personally" doesn't add any new information
It could be cut from the sentence without changing its meaning

the person saying this maybe thinks they are important enuf to have minions
but have chosen not to involve them
or feel that they are soooo generous to get involved 'personally'
suffering from verbal diahorrea
ignorant self important fuckers

[Corus Boy]

Just an observation and not that I'm a great public speaker in any way..... Is it me or are there a lot more people out there saying "You know" mid-sentence?

I don't mean footballers doing a live interview straight after a game but I'm hearing this on television , radio, colleagues at work.

I get it's used subconsciously and to give the speaker a couple of seconds to get their brain in gear etc but I'm now hearing this in everyday conversation...... "Had a lovely meal last night, you know...."

Maybe lockdown has had something to do with and possibly the art of conversation has slightly deteriorated.

Absolutely. 

[Thephoenix]

I think that "you know" is a Liverpool expression 

Different parts of the country, most probably, use different expressions.

People seem to use the expression "cool" a lot nowadays.

I think it started in the 60's in Liverpool, when sentences would often end in....."an all tha tho lykkke y'know"

[WelshMichael]

I've noticed when people are asked questions in interviews, sports people in particular tend to begin their answer with "yeah, no". Why?

[PunterNumber69]

I think people throw these words into their sentences to give themselves time to come up with what to say next. British people tend to speak faster than people from other countries and some people struggle to know what to say next. It's same as when people say errr inbetween sentences. A better way of handling this situation is just to talk a little slower. You'll find that few Americans err or um when speaking in public and that's because they talk at a slower pace which gives them time to come up with what to say next.

[Thephoenix]

I think people throw these words into their sentences to give themselves time to come up with what to say next. British people tend to speak faster than people from other countries and some people struggle to know what to say next. It's same as when people say errr inbetween sentences. A better way of handling this situation is just to talk a little slower. You'll find that few Americans err or um when speaking in public and that's because they talk at a slower pace which gives them time to come up with what to say next.

C  a  n 't      a.     r.     g.     u.     e              w.         I.          t.         h.                       t.              h.                 a.                    t.

[Colston36]

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned the So plague. Very contagious.

For a while about 50 years ago I started all statements with "You know" - then suddenly the disease vanished. I was born in LIverpool, but left at the age of 2. Don't see how I could have caught the bug that early. Anyhow my parents came from London and Sale. 

Then there's the ethnic "Yo, mother fucker".  Not to mention "Wassup, Bro". I think these openings are all contagions.

[Dipper]

“Yeah/no… ya know.” Also popular the last five or more years.

“Listen!” To start a reply or statement as well.

Got to be the Aussie and U. S. influence. Plus “look!”

[Stevelondon]

Innit

Seems to be a youth thing...especially down Sarf.
My own pet hate is anyione who keeps peppering his speak with "Basically"


But the worst ones are those who keep saying "Fuck"


I was on the district line and the train was full of football supporters. These two blokes were chatting away about anything and everything.  But every other word was "Fuck" or to change it, sometimes  a "Cunt"


"Yeh so I said to this cunt. You fucking better do that otherwise the fucking yad yada yada"
I started laughing and of course that turned out to be the wrong thing to do.....long story short, I said to one of them,
"Try talking to your mate without putting a swear word in a sentence. I bet you can't"

You guessed it. He told me to fuck off.

I nearly pissed myself laughing. 

[WASA38]

Seems to be a youth thing...especially down Sarf.

But the worst ones are those who keep saying "Fuck"


I was on the district line and the train was full of football supporters. These two blokes were chatting away about anything and everything.  But every other word was "Fuck" or to change it, sometimes  a "Cunt"


"Yeh so I said to this cunt. You fucking better do that otherwise the fucking yad yada yada"
I started laughing and of course that turned out to be the wrong thing to do.....long story short, I said to one of them,
"Try talking to your mate without putting a swear word in a sentence. I bet you can't"

You guessed it. He told me to fuck off.

I nearly pissed myself laughing. 

A cousin once told me how he had cycled past a broken-down army truck. The driver had his head in the bonnet shouting: 'Fuck the fucking fucker, the fucking fucker's fucked'.

Versatile word. Noun, adjective, verb ---.

[catweazle]

A cousin once told me how he had cycled past a broken-down army truck. The driver had his head in the bonnet shouting: 'Fuck the fucking fucker, the fucking fucker's fucked'.

Versatile word. Noun, adjective, verb ---.

Reminds me of the old tale about a bloke in the pub complaining  about the wife's  infidelity:

"So I fucking come fucking home after  a fucking awful shift, the fucking bedroom doors fucking wide open, I fucking goes in  and there's my fucking missus having sexual intercourse with him from next door "

[Thephoenix]

“Yeah/no… ya know.” Also popular the last five or more years.

“Listen!” To start a reply or statement as well.

Got to be the Aussie and U. S. influence. Plus “look!”

One of The Aussie influences is ending the sentence on a high note.
Always peculiar to The Aussies, but catching on here a bit now with the youngies.

Plus Australians are the only people who often end the sentence with 'but'.
.......eg "Manchester United have got good players, they're not a good team but!"

[Moby Dick]

Actually Adultworks is full of actual fluffy cunts, actually..... you know

[Fac51]

Seems to be a youth thing...especially down Sarf.
My own pet hate is anyione who keeps peppering his speak with "Basically"


But the worst ones are those who keep saying "Fuck"


I was on the district line and the train was full of football supporters. These two blokes were chatting away about anything and everything.  But every other word was "Fuck" or to change it, sometimes  a "Cunt"


"Yeh so I said to this cunt. You fucking better do that otherwise the fucking yad yada yada"
I started laughing and of course that turned out to be the wrong thing to do.....long story short, I said to one of them,
"Try talking to your mate without putting a swear word in a sentence. I bet you can't"

You guessed it. He told me to fuck off.

I nearly pissed myself laughing. 

 

It's been prevalent among a lot of the supporters from the London clubs for years, especially on match days....

 "Fuckin' cunts"   

[binbag]

"Yeah, no" really baffles me.Where the hell did that come from? But.

[catweazle]

"Yeah, no" really baffles me.Where the hell did that come from? But.

I'm inclined to think "yeah, no" is "yes, I heard the question,  and the answer is No".