People get really tied to what the original sense of a word was or the original use without

realizing that there are so many things in language that we use every day

that are the complete opposite of the meaning that they had a hundred 200 years ago.

When we look at studies that measure how much people use at verbal intensity in workplace

settings, we find that people that don't use them come across as very robotic and less sociable

and people that do use them not only come across as more

sociable but also as more reliable and as more believable. They actually

remember the points that followed an a or an um better than they remembered the ones that didn't which I think is pretty amazing.

That's Dr. Valley of Friedland.

She's a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno.

She's also the author of Like Literally Dude, arguing for the good in bad English, where she explores the history and patterns behind

the modern speech habits people love to hate.

So, Yoldar in one, the surprising value of saying, uh, and um, two, how to switch up your

language to build better relationships and three the

one word that makes you sound more convincing I'm Pete McKitis this is how to be

awesome at your job and now here's Valerie. Valerie, welcome.

Well, thank you.

I'm so happy to be here.

I am, like, literally, so excited to be talking about your work and the implications of

language and life and business and professional careers so tell us what is your area of expertise as a professor and researcher and

writer? Well that's a bit of a tongue twister. I'm what's called a sociolinguist

which you don't want to say five times in a row at a party because it tends to get blurred together but what I basically study is how the language we use comes from who we are socially and this can be things like you know whether

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