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

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, friends, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Valerie Fridland. She's 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 that 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 of the word hello, why I apparently have a hard time pronouncing my R's and much more. Very cool from Valerie. I know that communication and improving your communication is something that an awful lot of people care about and Valerie's got some really interesting insights. It should help to make you feel far less nervous about your vocal tics and remember that the vibe and the energy of how you deliver things is a lot more important than the specific precision with which you say them. Say the words properly, get the delivery right and the stuff in between makes a lot less of a difference, it seems. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep. It is getting very hot here in Austin, Texas, and my Eight Sleep Pod Pro cover is keeping me alive. It is a cooled mattress topper. It tracks my sleep. It makes sure that as I go throughout the night, it adjusts the temperature based on how my sleep stages are changing. It is a complete game changer. If you live anywhere that is even remotely warm, you need to have a cooled mattress because you can't do it with air conditioning. The duvet on top of your bed is literally built to stop heat getting in or out. So trying to control the temperature from outside of your bed is going to be a difficult battle. The PodPro cover fits on any bed just like a fitted sheet. It will improve your sleep by automatically adjusting the temperature on each side of the bed. So if you sleep hot and your partner sleeps cold, you can have two different sides. And best of all, you can save $150 on the PodPro cover by going to eightsleep.com/modernwisdom. That's E-I-G-H-T sleep.com/modernwisdom. And they ship within the USA, Canada, the UK, the EU and Australia. In other other news, this episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. We all need help at some point in our lives, whether it's because of stress at home or work or loneliness. It can be invaluable to know that there's someone professionally trained who can help us get through whatever we're facing. It's not a crisis line or self-help. It is professional counseling done securely over the internet. The therapists have a broad range of expertise which may not be available in your area. The service is available for clients worldwide. You can log in to your account at any time and send a message to your therapist. You get timely and thoughtful responses. Plus you can schedule weekly video or phone sessions so you don't even have to leave the house. It is a quicker, cheaper and more convenient way to start doing therapy. And if you've got relationship trouble, difficulties at work, stuff from your past that's coming up, or you just want someone trained that you can talk to, this is a great place to begin. Join over 2 million people who have taken charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional by going to betterhelp.com/modernwisdom. That's better, help.com/modernwisdom.
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