Did I say that? January 21, 2008

The other day I became very aware of a horrific issue I was having with the English language while speaking to a friend on the phone.  The problem was that while speaking I heard myself say “um”  “you know” and “like” in excess.  I was almost stunned listening to myself use words that I only heard overused in teen “drama” TV shows. The more I consciously tried to stop and speak in full sentences, the more I kept using those “words”.  It was the weirdest sensation–feeling uncomfortable with the meaningless “words” that were taking control of my sentencnes-tangling my tongue. As the conversation ended I was somewhat relieved and vowed to be silent until the next day, hoping that it was a 24hour verbal virus. For the rest of the night I devoured several short stories and newspaper articles-hoping to perform a literary transplant in my word bank. Luckily the night ended on a good note, since I came across a fabulous short story: “Beginners” by Raymond Carver . If you are ever in need of a good dose of reading-this is great literary medicine. Enjoy!