Stop Saying Um

Tuesday, 16 June 2009

Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 18 seconds

“Um.” It’s a peeve of so many. Understandably so, as it:

1. makes one look unprepared,
2. is not a word so much as an annoying sound,
3. cheapens speech surrounding it,
4. and is (for some reason) used as a silence filler. Hey, what’s so wrong with silence?

I don’t know why we say it. Leave that to the psychologists.

As for how to stop saying “um,” here’s how a teacher got his students to quit the habit:

Senior year of high school. Grammar class. Mr. Shoemaker. (Awesome name, awesome teacher.)

Mr. Schumacher’s idea of participation was posing questions to the class and then throwing a ball around the room to get responses. Whoever held the ball could speak. If you didn’t have the ball, you couldn’t speak. When one person was finished, the ball would be passed to another person. You get the idea.

Except for one rule: if you received the ball and uttered “um” then Mr. Schumacher would shout “Next!” and you would lose the ball and, thus, the right to speak.

I wish I had this ball today for meetings and conferences. Then people could only speak when they had something worthwhile to share, or (hopefully) at least think before speaking.

Takeaway

Try using positive or negative punishment every time you say “um.”

Positive punishment examples: pinch your leg, or drink a half glass of water every time you say “um”.

Negative punishment examples: put ten candies on your desk at the beginning of the workday and remove one every time you say “um.”

What techniques have worked for you?