using the knowledge you’ve gained from the link for the article and this chapter, answer the following:
Consider any crutch words or phrases that you use. What do you say repetitively? Are any these crutch words considered jargon or slang?
Why do you believe you use the “crutch words” that you do? Do you perceive your “crutch words” impacting your ability to clearly communicate? How does using these words impact the level of power in your language?
What strategies can you use to eradicate frequent crutch words? How might these strategies help your language become more powerful?
Your initial post should be at least 250 words
then respond to two people with 200 words
1- I think that I use crutch phrases more often than crutch words. Especially in typing when there is a specific number of words that need to be used it is easy to throw a bunch of “fluff” into your piece of writing. My preferred crutch phrases include maybe, I guess, either way and whatever works. I think I use these to try and remain neutral and not have to make decisions. I also use a lot of filler adverbs; my favorites include the words: definitely, for sure, to be honestor honestly. I don’t use a lot of social media so all the new slang and phrases that come off of TikTok, for example, I am oblivious to. I don’t think any of what I previously listed are considered slang, just filler and fluff. I think a lot of people when speaking use “uh” or “um” or some variation of that sound when they need a moment to think. Opposite of that, when I was in 6th grade and 8th grade I had the same English teacher, I loved her she was the best, anyhow, she had a “clicker” and whenever a student would use “um” or “like” she would click her clicker and count how many times you used it during your speech. Instead of saying anything I try and just pause and breath briefly. I think how adamant my 6th/8th grade teacher played an important role in how I speak and use language. She made us make a conscious effort to think about what we were saying and how it came out.
2-I use crutch words all the time. The one crutch word I use repeatedly is umm. If I had to say I would think umm is a slang word, but I could be wrong. An Another word I use a lot that is a slang word is babe.
I use this word all the time because my mouth can not keep up with my brain so I will forget what I am trying to say so I have to literally think on what I am trying to say. Another reason why I use that word is because I get nervous because I do not like talking in front of people. I use babe all the time because that is what I grew up hearing, so I adapt to it, so I call my girlfriend that also.
The strategy I use to not say umm is before I start talking, I think about what I am trying to say, and I take a deep breath and then I talk. When I do that, I do not mess up and I can get everything I want to say out. I did not develop that strategy on my own, but my first speech teacher taught me that and I have been using it ever since.
I have not developed any strategy for babe because I just use it all the time. I do not know what other word to use except her name to fix it. If I use her real name, she is going to be mad at me and look at me like I am crazy.
