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stranger
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stranger
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Hi! Folks,
I am a newbie out here and this is my first post. Anyway down to brasstacks.
Yesterday a friend asked me if any word in English describes the usage of a particular word repeatedly.
For e.g. a Professor of mine had this habit of using the word "right?" after every sentence he spoke in class. ("The Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns would apply to this situation. Right? and so on)
Been wracking my mind on what could be the word to describe such usage.
For those reader who are familiar with Hindi, I am looking for the equivalent of the word "Takia Kalam"
Looking forward to hear from you folks.
Ciao
Gautam
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Hello, from stranger to stranger. In my language they call the often irritating thing a "stopword".(stopwoordje) I guess it can be regarded as a nervous phenomenen (tic). Involuntary interruptions of speech. I know someone who uses about three times "You know?" before he gets to the end of the sentence. Tedious. I'm curious to learn the English word for it too. 
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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hmm. to start with, stopwords are something entirely else in (English) computerese. hmm. - joe (um, could be fillers , you know?) friday
Last edited by tsuwm; 03/28/08 01:49 PM. Reason: added link to filler
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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welcome, Gautam.
how about "annoying"?
and Bran, you're a Pooh-bah, you're no Stranger. :¬ )
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Hey Gautam
Welcome to the board. I'm an infrequent dropper in, but I'm sure the regulars will give you a rousing reception.
If I'm not mistaken takia kalam (a phrase new to me) is probably more Urdu/Persian than Sanskrit. Am I right in assuming it translates as "pillow pen" or "pillow talk"?
The closest that English has, to my knowledge, for this is something like "catchphrase", though the usage is quite different.
I have also heard writers describe such behaviour as a form of 'verbal tic', but again, that's a far more general description than the specific one you seek.
Wish I could have been more helpful.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
PS. Ha! It's taken me just over 8 years to get to 1000 posts!
Last edited by shanks; 03/28/08 01:49 PM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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see link to 'filler' above, as my post was superseded by others while I was editing.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'd go with discourse marker ( link). Other kinds of disfluencies ( link) are fillers ( link) and hedges ( link)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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more on fillers - joe (dueling disfluencies) friday
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Perhaps signature phrase, catchphrase, or personal cliché.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
Perhaps signature phrase, catchphrase, or personal cliché.
Zigackly. In context, with my limited Hindi, that's what I thought too. Haven't heard the phrase 'personal cliché' before though.
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