What’s better than “um” when you need a second to think?

Go quiet and breathe. A pause gives your brain time and sounds calm on a recording, not lost.

Why count fillers on your own recording in the trainer?

You barely hear your own fillers until you count them. You can’t change a habit you don’t notice. That’s why Toastmasters has someone whose job is counting “um”s.

What’s the fastest way to move a new word into your active vocabulary?

Write it down with an example and say it out loud in conversation that day. A word becomes yours when you say it yourself in real speech, and the example shows how to use it.

Filler words and a living vocabulary

Lesson 8 of 16 in the course “Speak with Confidence”. Free, with animations and a quiz.

Where the “um”s come from

“Um” shows up when the thought isn’t ready yet and silence feels risky. In 2002 psycholinguists Herbert Clark and Jean Fox Tree showed that “uh” and “um” in English aren’t junk: they signal that a delay is coming, and listeners pick that up. A couple per talk is normal. The trouble starts when there are dozens: the room hears uncertainty and loses the thread.

Fillers come in types

Sounds like “um” and “uh” are the easiest to spot. Words are sneakier: “like”, “you know”, “basically”, “so”. Sneakier still are phrases like “to be honest” and “at the end of the day”: they sound meaningful but add nothing. And “to be honest” hints that you weren’t before. Everyone has their own set, and you barely hear your own. That’s why you need a recording.

Swap the filler for a pause

A ban like “don’t say um” barely works: the brain needs room to think. Give it that room, only silently. Finished a thought? Full stop, breath, pause. Need a second to think? Also a pause. On a recording a pause sounds like confidence, and an “um” in the same spot sounds lost. Short sentences help too: the longer the sentence, the more places to get stuck.

Count them to notice them

At Toastmasters public-speaking clubs, every meeting has a dedicated role: someone counts each speaker’s “um”s and “ah”s and reads the numbers out at the end. The idea is simple: you can’t change a habit you don’t notice. This lesson’s trainer does the same: you talk for a minute, listen back and tap +1 for every filler. Then the same topic, with a pause instead of each filler.

Vocabulary: from “I know it” to “I use it”

Fillers often plug the spot where the right word didn’t show up. You understand far more words than you actually use when speaking. The job is to move words from the first list to the second. Write a new word down with the sentence you found it in, and say it out loud in a conversation that same day. Instead of “very”, look for the exact word. And read aloud: words settle not only in your head but in your mouth.

Check yourself

What’s better than “um” when you need a second to think?
Correct answer: Go quiet and breathe. A pause gives your brain time and sounds calm on a recording, not lost.
Why count fillers on your own recording in the trainer?
Correct answer: You barely hear your own fillers until you count them. You can’t change a habit you don’t notice. That’s why Toastmasters has someone whose job is counting “um”s.
What’s the fastest way to move a new word into your active vocabulary?
Correct answer: Write it down with an example and say it out loud in conversation that day. A word becomes yours when you say it yourself in real speech, and the example shows how to use it.

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