@Cerberus I hear at this part something like lɛzgɪt də fʌk aʊdɪs kʌntri

@aediaλ Yeah OK, but is it impossible that he just swallowed the /ə/, instead of not saying "of" at all? Then again, if you say it is common in this dialect, you're probably right.

@Cerberus Hmm. I do say "outta" in my dialect, but there would be at least a whole syllable more in the production: aʊɾə ðɪs kʌntri (the rhythm of the speech is going to be different, I cannot fit it in the same time as the video... if I try to, it comes out aʊə'ðɪs but it seems like I'm saying owah-THIS since in my normal speech I don't change the /ð/ in this or the to more of a /d/)

Hmm.

I don't think it's a production error because I'm familiar with hearing "of" lost like this. If our dude in the video is swallowing the /ə/ but thinking "of" is there in his head (like if we asked him, he'd write it there) that's possible. I don't know of any research on this.

It is impossible for me to say what's possible and what isn't. And things like this are also very hard to research by introspection.

Yes definitely.

Send him an e-mail!

I don't know who he is actually. I don't watch tv news so like, even if he were from my area I wouldn't know

Hmm.

I'm sure it's discoverable.

But the more important point is that as soon as we start asking him it's more introspection.

I'm pretty sure he'd have no idea himself.

Better to do a study where the participants don't know exactly which features you're curious about.

Yeah.

It would be fun to attach a microphone to someone and record what he says all day.

I know!

And pretend it is for some linguistic research thingy.

There was that guy who recorded all of his kid's language development at home. That was cool.

Yeah!

I would record myself as long as I didn't have to be there while people were picking me apart. I would hate to see how many times I say "like". I bet it's like, 500 a day.

By the way, why are you making it rain so hard?

Ohh you're a liker!

Can't you train yourself not to say it?

@Cerberus I forgot to flip the light switch for the sun and now it's been electrocuted from all the water?

I usually do that when I detect my saying such words too much.

Oh I tried.

@aediaλ Oh, phew, if that's all.

One car trip my husband and I tried basically punch-buggy but with each time someone said "like", but it got dangerous hitting the driver and we started to be afraid someone would think we were a domestic abuse case.

(Do you have punch-buggy? It's a horrible thing where you say "punch-buggy!" when you see a VW Beetle and then punch the other person)

(Yeah we have something like that, though I'm not sure it has a name.)

But it would seem an excellent way of training, except not in the car.

I find it terribly easy to change my handwriting consciously, for example, or to learn a new word, or to memorize and apply some prescriptive rule in my writing when necessary (like for work). But my speech, oh Gods, I cannot fix it. If I get the point across, good enough, I say.

I don't enjoy speaking in front of meetings of people and I hate the phone except with very close friends.

I probably sound reasonably articulate here but it's just that no matter how fast y'all chatter, even when it's a challenge to keep up, I'm writing. So there's that delay in there, that pause, which allows me to seem coherent.

Well, doesn't everyone have that?

I think some people manage to spit the words out easier.

Could be.

But most people say some words like like, so you're probably no worse off than most people!

I also agree that unlearning a word in speech is harder.

But I can still do it.

Actually I find the opposite harder in speech!

I am trying to use a few words that I really can't get into my system, somehow.

With people face-to-face there are so many more treacherous layers of register to navigate, too.

Hmm.

I don't know, I nearly always feel quite comfortable, register-wise, and yet I cannot concentrate enough to use those words I want to use. Or perhaps it is rather a matter of remembering.

But with taboo words I find it easier, because I can usually attach a taboo feeling to a word or expression if I want to.

And that feeling, in turn, trains me not to use it.

I can be chatting with a coworker around my age and using practically semantically void language, me: like, um, you know that thing she sent us, yeah, um, like, really? friend: yeah, really, what was that? and then someone senior comes along and asks, so, aedia, do you have any ideas? and I need to switch into Well, I saw the message you forwarded to us earlier, and I was a little confused about what she was saying...

I can manage with taboo words that are nouns and adjectives and things.

It's those pesky contentless ones I don't even notice.

Hmm.

I can't make my brain see them!

Perhaps it's a good thing, or I'd see like everywhere and be annoyed.

I really don't have a great deal of trouble unlearning them myself, sorry! I wish I could display more solidarity.

@aediaλ Very true! I am annoyed all the time. I can't even watch television at all.

@Cerberus Even cuando hablas Dutch?

(I just realized I don't know how to say Dutch in Spanish, so that came out all weird, oops.)

@aediaλ Oh, yes!

Holandese? Something like that?

I used to say "zeg maar" ("just say", used like like), but I stopped.

@Cerberus Hamburguesa, mmm... whoops, distracted myself.

Oh now I'm hungry too.

I suppose most places in Europe have food named after them.

I think it's el holandés if you want to say the language (now that I look in Wiktionary).

Even in England, where they technically don't have real food.

@aediaλ Sounds good!

holandés/holandesa are the adjective forms I think, so: eres holandés, soy holandesa (except I'm not), hablas el holandés

OK.

Zeg maar is used as much as our "like"?

Yes.

Same reputation too.

And of course we have many more where that came from, as do most languages, probably.

Aaaaugh, I just wrote "there cannot not be two"... I think my brain is fried.

It can be correct?

But you meant "there cannot be two"?

I make stupid mistakes in writing that I don't see all the time, even when I reread.

Everyone does, I hope.