Can, Uh, You, Ah, Stop Using Word-Fillers?

I’m not being literal because some speakers weary their audiences with more than word fillers (like, so, right, basically, literally, absolutely, actually).

Some fill their spaces with only sounds (mmm, hmmm, ah, uh, ay) while others fill the pauses with entire phrases (“Follow me?” “Are you with me?” “You know.” “What I’m getting at…” “To be very clear…” “In my opinion…”)

These add nothing but length. In fact, they detract. If they work their way into your speech patterns too often, peopl...