[masraum]

Originally Posted by mjohnson

To the main topic - I think "like" is nearly unfixable. It's like (heh) breathing for so many.

I had a very annoying verbal habit of using "clearly", especially with some new engineers. One particularly aware victim started using with me in at least every other sentence. No other remarks - not even a smirk or a second glance to see if I noticed.

I noticed, and it hit hard! It had me fixed of that little issue in less than a month.

My particular hangup now is anyone responding to my side of a discussion with "Anyway, ..." I don't take it well and I've tried to give it back, as in the "clearly" example above, and typically they're so contextually deaf that it doesn't even register.

Clearly, you need to get everyone that you work with in on the punchline like in the school situation above. Repeat it back out-loud any time it's heard.

And yes, most folks don't see/understand what the problem is with filler words.