Not a rushed version of the chorus of an early Beatles number but the latest, seemingly universal, vocal tick to infuriate me.
I like to listen to podcasts as I work. I say ‘listen’ but really I just let them rumble away in the background most of the time, and wouldn’t be able to answer simple questions about the content immediately after. On the occasions I do actually listen rather than just hear I’ve recently noticed that every podcast host has adopted the habit of agreeing with a guest’s responses to questions by saying, ‘YeahYeahYeah’.
The first one I noticed was Dan Schreiber on his We Can be Weirdoes podcast, possibly because Dan in his enthusiasm sometimes stretches it into YeahYeahYeahYeahYeah. But he’s far from alone. Richard Herring on his Leicester Square show, Alastair Campbell on The Rest Is Politics …it’s everywhere, at least among men.
When did YeahYeahYeah become such a widespread interjection, and how can we make it stop?
Similarly, after such an excitable interjection, why are scentnces and assertions contain so many “ums”
On a similar note I realised years go that non-TV professionals being interviewed for TV don’t want to answer ‘Yes’ to questions where that would be the most obvious response, so they say ‘Absolutely!’ instead.
The section of Bargain Hunt between the buying and the auction are a particularly rich source. When I see the host approaching the curator of a local museum or some other suitable candidate I make a mental bet with myself how many ‘Abaolutely!s’ they will squeeze into a interview a couple of minutes long. It’s almost always at least 3.
“Absolutely” is the middle-class version of “‘mazin!”
In Aussie English it’s YeahNo.
that’s started to appear here in Blighty. It amuses me to see how many answers to questions start with ‘yes’ irrespective of the question asked:
“So John, what’s happening on the scene now?”
“Yes, not much has changed since the last time we spoke Andrew”.
As if TRIP wasn’t navel gazing, meta and in love with itself enough already…
“Where are you this week, Rory?”
“I’m in the jacuzzi with you, Alastair”.
Michael Ball was doing the YeahYeahYeah thing on his radio show this morning, and not inna Beatles band stylee either.
And Stacey Dooley on The One Show tonight.
See? Once you notice it you hear it everywhere..
A hundred percent.
100%?
Pah!
Shows like X Factor, etc, have resulted in Cowellflation increases to
one hundred and ten, a thousand and now even a million per cent
Remember ” Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt”?
About thirty years ago, no one in the UK could stop saying it, even people who had no experience of anything, let alone the purchasing of a T-shirt.
That died a death, but not so “local bragging rights”. Good luck going into a Millwall pub after West Ham have beaten them 2-0 to enjoy those local bragging rights.
Recently, I’ve heard football pundits talk about someone else’s team as “your mob” in a matey kinda way. Hmm, irritating. They’re not your mob, they’re better than you.
Football is of course literally in a league of its own when it comes to annoying vocal tics and mannerisms. Over the last season I have
Been mildly irritated by the phrase ‘return to defensive duties’ as if John Stones also had to attend monthly health and safety meetings and do the bank rec.
Every time I hear a football pundit say “playing as a false nine” I cringe.
See also :-
Playing off the shoulder.
Playing in the hole.
Playing as a ten.
The press.
On the front foot.
They’ve scored too early.
Just ridiculous.
‘The press’ and ‘on the front foot’…ye gods.
There used to be a tendency to say “pressurized” in football commentary instead of pressured.
No! the footballers were no molecularly compressed and squeezed into a cannister! They were not!
Used to drive me nuts, to the point where the modern version – “the press” – is actually preferable.
File pressurized along with racialist. And terror. For me anyway
Putting in a shift
Fresh pair of legs
Yes! Yeah! But not yeah yeah. I like Scott’s Bass Lessons on YouTube and have been dipping into the podcast but it’s exactly as you say, a constant string of “yeah yeah yeahs” from the host while the guest tries to speak. Really annoying.
Another ubiquitous commentary phrase, but seemingly unique to tennis: “Too good”.
I was listening to a guy being interviewed on a podcast the other weeks (forgot his name) who said “and stuff like that” at the end of almost every sentence. It was very distracting especially since it was about half an hour long
Whether in conversation or song, I have no time for “baby, baby, baby”, or any permutation or number of “woh”‘s. This includes songs by The Vibrators and Beatles. I make an allowance for “Love Removal Machine” by The Cult.
What’s your stance on Jimmy The Hoover?
He may tantalise you with all that Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh
The one that slightly irritates me is starting every answer with ‘Look,….’. Blair used to do this, and it seems to be something that Aussies and New Zealanders use a lot – witness Brendon McCullum after the match today.
Ah yes – your Aussie politician’s go-to when s/he is trying to gather her/his thoughts, while simultaneously implying that the question is stupid. Tony Abbott was a serial offender.
The Tories did this a lot during their lockdown teatime press conferences. Raab, Hancock and Gove were the worst offenders, trying to come across like they were intellectual contenders explaining something to idiots, rather than attempting to cover up some ineptitude or covid mask supply corruption.