Counting "Uh's". The WH Press secretary would drive a Toastmasters Grammarian to drink.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiAFOGmzAUU ^ | 01/14/23 | Self

[know.your.why]

Rant Warning... I've recently become a member of Toastmasters International. In case you didn't know, Toastmasters is a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. > https://www.toastmasters.org/about < One very special Toastmaster position is the Grammarian. The Grammarian's job is to identify and point out "filler" words that people subconsciously use as 'crutches' during a speech which basically pauses their mouth, so that their brain can catch up to it. Common filler words are Ah, Er, So, Like, Um, etc... Though accepted as common in casual conversation, when brought to the microphone they distract from ones core personality and make you sound nervous, distracted, or disengaged rather than authentic. Some people seem to have "filler word seizures" where they utter "ah-ah-ah-ah..." well, you get the point. Now that I've become sensitive to my own use of the non-word word "Uh", I notice it more in other people. Enter Karine Jean Pierre. This "gifted" individual seems to be capable of stringing enough "uh's" together to just about make a complete fake-sentence from them. You'll know what I mean next time you decide to watch her, er..., torture yourself by watching one of her press conferences. Rant /off... Freep /on

[steve in DC]

Howie Carr used to play clips of Ted Kennedy speeches. He challenged his listeners to count the number of uhs.

Called it “The Wizard of Uhs”.

That’s who Miss Jean-Pierre is.

[Jacquerie]

Ah, Er, So, Like, Um are to speech as “allege” is to print.