It's better than "umm" imo.

I had lady call the shop the other day and said "umm" no less than 100 times in a four minute phone conversation. I almost hung up.

I think it started with Moon Unit.

Anything is better than umm. If you like drinking games, do NOT attempt to listen to a PM Trudeau speech. If you drink every time you hear "uhhh" or "umm", you'll be on the floor in about a minute.

Hard disagree that 'like' is better than 'uhhh' or 'ummm' as a pause interjection. 'Like' is much more jarring and noticeable to me.

I think using them stems from an insecurity that most or at least many people have that they'll lose their interlocutor's focus, attention, or interest when they're speaking and pause for some time as they think of what exactly they want to say next. Using 'like' and 'uhhm' is basically a verbal stopgap to allow them to think of what they want to say next without leaving that scary block of silence between words.

I believe though that it's been shown that in speaking, if you implement silent pauses, it actually makes you more persuasive and likely to keep your audience's attention and interest. Take a look at almost any Ted Talk to see that in action.

I can see that. I try to take silent pauses. There are times where I get stuck and I'll put in the "you know", or the "so...".

I think part of the reason I noticed the "like" stuff is that I used to hear it a lot in high school. I thought it was a kid thing to do. I hear it everywhere I go now.

Yeah, so I'm a big hater of the usage of "so" in front of everything. "So" is a qualifier, as in, he couldn't get a ticket so he couldn't go to the gig. But now everyone starts every ****ing sentence with the word. "What are you doing tonight?"
"So, I think I'll head down to the bar and..."
AAARRRGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! :banghead:

Like, gag me with a spoon

Totally

I'm guilty of the "so". I'm also positive that there are ways I speak which annoy others.

Like Ricky said, "what goes around is all around".