The New "Uh" and More

Spoiler alert! Warning!! Warning!!! Warning !!! If you wish not to be made aware of something you will never be able to forget and will bug you for the rest of your life, stop reading now. I repeat, stop reading now. This post is an essay about language, specifically about the new filler word. Chances are you may have never noticed it. But once you do, it will drive you nuts. Warning: proceed at your own risks.

The new filler word is --- drum roll ---  more drums --- "Yeah." Listen for it. It is everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. 

Uses of yeah:

1) Introductory word. For some reason, we often have the need to preface a sentence with a word that means absolutely nothing. For most of my life, in the deep South that word was "Naw." Example, "Naw, Zane. I was riding by your house and decided to stop." What does "naw" mean there? I can answer that. It means nothing, but instead of just saying what we wanted to say, we intuitively feel a need for a prefacing vocalization. Now the introductory word is "Yeah." Example, "Yeah, Zane. I was riding by your house and decided to stop." 

2) The new "Uh." Instead  of saying "Uh" here and there, speakers are now choosing "Yeah." Example: "I was driving along and, yeah, I decided to stop and your house."

3) ?

If you haven't noticed this, get ready to have your head exploded because it is everywhere and I do mean everywhere. Did I mention that it's everywhere? Not only is it everywhere, but it makes less sense every time I hear it.

I know what you're thinking. You think, despite my protestations, that it is just one of those red neck things in the deep South. But really, that's not the case. In fact, I haven't heard many people around here use it. One exception is Matt Wyatt of Head to Head on Super Talk Mississippi. He says it all the time. But I hear it on CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS new. Recently, and much to my amazement, I watched hours and hours of the Tour de France coverage where I heard Spaniards, Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Englishmen, and others speak in heavily accented English and using the same phrasing. Example (this is an approximation of MANY interviews I heard):

Reporter: Were you aware of the crash?

Cyclist: Yeah, I was in the chase group so, yeah, I didn't know anything about it until just now.

Exactly what does "yeah" mean in that sentence? It can't mean "yeah" because the answer is "no." Does this make any sense to you? Any? And just how did this word that doesn't mean what it means make its way into the speech of people from around the world?

I heard a Yankee game warden on North Woods Law use it. I hear it on reality TV. I heard Gus Malzahn (football coach for Auburn University) preface four out of seven answers with "yeah" in a recent interview telecast on the SEC Network. It's everywhere and it's driving me nuts. So what to do? I have an answer for that question, but going forward (see what I did there?) I will save that for another post. 

So, yeah, Shawn C. Turner, this is a post you should have written. Going forward I think, yeah, you should write on this. So, yeah, do it Shawn.