Why Is Everyone Saying ‘Like’ and ‘Um’ All The Time? - Valerie Fridland - #630

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2023

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Valerie Fridland is a sociolinguist, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Nevada, a researcher and an author. On average we say around 5,000 words every day. But how often have you assessed why you communicate the way you do, or where the words you're using came from? This is where the fascinating field of sociolinguistics comes in, exploring the history of our speech patterns and words' origins to help us develop new and better ways to communicate. Expect to learn why languages evolved to be so complex, how to stop saying ‘like’ so much, how social media has impacted the way we speak, why you keep using “um” and “uh” all the time, why Black Twitter is at the forefront of all cool new lingo, the unexpected origin story of the word ‘Hello’, why I apparently have hard time pronouncing my R’s and much more... Sponsors: Get £150 discount on Eight Sleep products at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Go to my sponsor https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamias’ nuts at https://houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:20) The Work of a Sociolinguist (04:27) Has English Become Simpler? (14:51) Why We Say ‘Um’ and ‘Uh’ (26:27) Is it Better to Be Silent Than Use Fillers? (30:39) How to Be a More Conscientious Listener (34:26) Why We Say ‘Like’ So Often (44:46) The Cause of Vocal Fry (52:12) Has Social Media Caused a More Informal Language? (1:01:43) Strange Word Developments (1:10:24) Where to Find Valerie Extra Stuff: Buy Like Literally Dude - https://amzn.to/41HmKaR Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Episodes You Might Enjoy: This Is How To Master Your Life - David Goggins - #577: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain - Dr Andrew Huberman - #700: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman⁠⁠ Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, welcome back to the show.
0:02.9	My guest today is Valerie Friedland.
0:04.9	She's a sociolinguist, professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada, a researcher,
0:09.8	and an author.
0:11.3	On average, we say around 5,000 words every day.
0:14.5	But how often have you assessed why you communicate the way you do, or where the words that you're
0:19.0	using came from?
0:20.2	This is where the fascinating field of sociolinguistics comes in, exploring the history of our speech patterns
0:25.2	and words origins to help us develop new and better ways to communicate.
0:30.6	Expect to learn why languages evolved to be so complex, how to stop saying like so much,
0:36.5	how social media has impacted the way we speak, why you keep using um and ur all the time,
0:41.8	why black Twitter is at the forefront of all cool new lingo, the unexpected origin of
0:47.2	the word hello, why I apparently have a hard time pronouncing my ars, and much more.
0:55.0	Very cool from Valerie, I know that communication and improving your communication is something
0:59.5	that an awful lot of people care about, and Valerie's got some really interesting insights,
1:03.8	it should help to make you feel far less nervous about your vocal tics, and remember that
1:09.7	the vibe and the energy of how you deliver things is a lot more important than the specific
1:15.8	precision with which you say them.
1:17.9	Say the words properly, get the delivery right, and the stuff in between makes a lot less
1:23.0	of a difference, it seems.
1:24.9	In other news, this episode is brought to you by 8th Sleep.
1:28.7	It is getting very hot here in Austin, Texas, and my 8th sleep pod pro cover is keeping me
	...

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