Saying “you know” all the time in sentences?

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07 Mar 2022, 4:51 pm

I saw this interview with David Beckham today https://youtu.be/Fe8_x4HwV7w and he constantly says “you know” between sentences.

One thing I noticed is that I also say “you know” a lot as well when I speak.

What could be the cause of this? Is it something to do with being autistic?

Joe90
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07 Mar 2022, 4:54 pm

I didn't know David Beckham was autistic?

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kitesandtrainsandcats
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07 Mar 2022, 4:58 pm

Jamesy wrote:

Is it something to do with being autistic?

Nope. The cause is simply being human.

Here's a reference,
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97983&page=1

Quote:

June 6, 2002 -- So, there are these, uh, psychologists who believe that um, I mean, they're trying to prove that those little stops and starts that are, you know, used in conversational speech are, like, legitimate words.

Herbert Clark of Stanford University and Jean Fox Tree of the University of California at Santa Cruz have spent years listening to recordings of spontaneous conversations and speech to analyze the role of "ums" and "uhs" in language.

And unlike previous linguists, they've concluded these so-called disfluencies and discourse markers represent something more than clumsy speakers having trouble expressing themselves — they also serve a role for listeners.

Conversation Managers

"People use these phrases in a very particular, deliberate way," says Clark. "If we anticipate a delay in our speech, we choose the appropriate sound to signal this to the listener. These phrases mean 'I need to make sure you realize I'm delaying because I'm having trouble.'"

By signaling a delay is coming, a speaker avoids a silent gap in conversation that might otherwise prove confusing to a listener. ...

and

Quote:

Phrases like "um" and "uh" and "you know" play an important role in language, he argues, by serving as a speaker's "conversation managers" in the human interaction aspect of conversation.

That idea runs counter to the thinking of Noam Chomsky, a renowned linguist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who argued in the mid-1960s that such phrases are simply "errors in applying knowledge of language in actual performance." Chomsky didn't consider "um" and "uh" part of proper language and he influenced a generation of linguists to exclude such phrases from linguistic theory.

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07 Mar 2022, 5:49 pm

Jamesy wrote:

I do it a lot with some people from anxiety and not being sure if they understand me or not. Usually do it over the phone.

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08 Mar 2022, 7:22 am

It’s a combination of a stammer and a habit.

When I can’t come up with the “right word,” I might say “you know.”

You didn’t hear too much of “you know” until the late 70s.

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08 Mar 2022, 11:44 am

I'm pretty sure everyone does this, but I do it A LOT. Like I say like all the time. See? I just did it! I try to do it less over text, but irl I say "like" almost every word, say um 24/7, and I also say "you know" and "I mean" a lot.

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08 Mar 2022, 12:44 pm

Like ya know... whatever.

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08 Mar 2022, 3:34 pm

This is a thing that NT's do... to fill in the figurative gap whilst pausing to think.

It is perfectly normal to perform this verbal action.

Doing this as an Autistic person is even more acceptable, due to processing speed being an issue for a lot of Autistic folk (in real-time situations, as opposed to when in a quiet environment, where processing can be super-speedy, versus NT processing).

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08 Mar 2022, 3:40 pm

I used to say it a lot, and my cousin used to say "no, I don't know", as a joke :lol: .

Now I seem to say "sort of" a lot when speaking.

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blitzkrieg
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08 Mar 2022, 3:46 pm

Joe90 wrote:

I used to say it a lot, and my cousin used to say "no, I don't know", as a joke :lol:

.

Now I seem to say "sort of" a lot when speaking.

Non-native speakers of English language do this more than native speakers, but native speakers do it a lot also, on a general population level.

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09 Mar 2022, 4:34 am

Joe90 wrote:

I used to say it a lot, and my cousin used to say "no, I don't know", as a joke :lol:

.

Now I seem to say "sort of" a lot when speaking.

Just burp, instead.

King Kat 1
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10 Mar 2022, 7:47 pm

I've gotten chewed out by my dad for doing this and I didn't really even think I was even doing it that much. At the same time, my father isn't always the easiest person to get a long with at times. So, when I'm around him I have to put on the normal act at times.

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30 May 2022, 3:01 pm

'How Do I Train Myself to Stop Saying "You Know?" When Speaking?'
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-train-my ... n-speaking

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