Please tell me what crutch words are.
I think they are used to fill spaces between sentences like a filler word, but I am not sure.
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Sign up to join this communityPlease tell me what crutch words are.
I think they are used to fill spaces between sentences like a filler word, but I am not sure.
Yes, they are essentially "filler words" such as um, uh, like, etc. However "crutch words" reinforce the idea that they impede communication and should be avoided/taken care of with an evident negative connotation.
Imagine a perfectly-able athlete trying to compete in a 100-m hurdles with crutches taped to their arms.
are the unnecessary words that we use to fill the dead spaces while speaking, or if we’re unsure of how to begin.
Since most of us don’t speak in front of a crowd on a daily basis, crutch words can be hard to catch! Here are some short common crutch words:
- We all use this one: it takes up the empty space in our speech, is extremely distracting, and ruins all credibility. I once counted the number of times my teacher said “um” in a 45-minute class period: 74 times. The fact that I was counting should say enough- I was definitely not paying attention to any of the topics she covered!
- At the end of the day, this phrase is just a precursor to whatever you really mean to say (I had to!). Similar to the dreaded “in conclusion” or “all in all,” this phrase is unnecessary and can (and should) be left out. As a crutch word, “at the end of the day” has nothing to do with the final hours of a day, and therefore might wins against the others in the battle for most annoying.
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