I would like to um express this point to you, like about how articulate and like how smart sounding people are when they um use irrelevant filler words to like convey their seemingly deep thought out point, so like yah.

Elocution is an art form.

When trying to prove an argument, many people today struggle to clearly express their point. They struggle to sound educated, act educated, and persuade others they are educated on the topic at hand because their sentence structure is filled with um, like, actually, or other irrelevant and irritating filler words. Filler words show up in public speaking all the time, but what separated an amazing public speaker from the common amateur is their eloquence.

But why? Beyond the obvious lack of public speaking skills, why? What is the true underlined cause? The answer. Laziness.

The problem lies within formal speaking. Formal speaking to a group of people, teacher, or any adult requires a level of higher intellect and preparation compared to when talking with your peers. This is where laziness comes in. The lack of eloquence when having a formal conversation occurs because one tries to express one’s knowledge on something, but does not understand it completely, or has not fully developed one’s thought. This lackadaisical mindset hinders one’s ability to articulate, but furthermore it causes them to search their brain for the words they need next during their initial rant and when they cannot do that quickly enough, they use um or like. The worst part about this sort of communication, however, is that we are okay with it. Society is okay with answers in school that consist of:
Well like I actually think maintaining ecosystems is important for the environment because like animals actually um need like a place to live.
Hopefully I don’t get them as a partner for our oral test.

When used correctly the English language is powerful, persuasive, and inspiring. However, when filler words are used to delay speech in order to recall a thought in a formal conversation, the, “English language… [Is] Destroyed” (Dream). Filler words have become the go-to, or the crouch for modern society. Used as a cover up to mask a lack of preparation and intelligence, but if one simply has a short pause, where thoughts could be conjured up instead of adding um or like, they would sound professional. One could convey their argument in a persuasive manner by pausing to prepare, as appose to adding unnecessary words and scrambling to complete a sentence. In order to be eloquent one must not be lazy.