Filler words serve important cognitive and social functions, but you can rein them in when it matters.

Time to limit your reliance on verbal crutches once and for all. So, like, uh, yeah, um, well, verbal crutches can be, like, super distracting, you know? They may be harmless every once in a while, ...

This problem is more common than you may think, and the fact that you've realized it—and want to fix it—is great. It's cliché, but the first step is admitting you have a problem! In general, we use ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. As someone who’s originally from Southern California and now lives in the South, it’s not uncommon for me to get Valley girl ...

Stuck with a word on the tip of your tongue when talking to a toddler? Don't worry — a new study finds that hesitant speech may help the kid learn new vocabulary. Language disfluencies, or the "ums" ...

Tiny filler words in human rapid-fire conversation hold the key to understanding how language is unique, according to a new book. But... Has anyone — a parent, teacher, or boss — told you to purge the ...

Little words, often ignored in normal speech, can signal deception. Words such as um and uh indicate cognitive load. Liars experience increased cognitive load. The tag words such as You know, I mean, ...

If you, uh, have a tendency to use filler words like “um” or “like” when you talk, it’s not the end of the world. Turns out they can actually be a good thing—as long as you use them right. But, ...