My own personal NPR-esque rant:

For anyone who listens to The Moth's podcast, I am so fucking sick of hearing about Dan Kennedy's goddamn "office power ballad." The way that woman says "RrrrrrrrOCKON!" is very similar to the way in which Terry Gross says "And this is... FrrrrrrrESHAIR!" SO SMUG.

(Could this possibly be the most first-world of all first-world problems?)

It's a show-by-show stylebook thing. Like you, I have zero patience for "sort of," "kind of," and other assorted interjections. The only time I'll leave in flub-words like that is when there's literally no good way to edit it out. A skilled producer will know how to carve around the slightest inflection to preserve the natural rhythms of human speech.

Not every show has that luxury, especially the dailies. I don't know what Fresh Air's lead time is like, but they certainly credit a damn lot of producers. My show is weekly, so I have a bit more leeway than most... and I'm working roughly three months in advance of air right now, which builds in a greater buffer.

This guy? Just used it so much? That it would have been a 15 minute show? If they edited every one out? Also? He uptalked even more than Terry? Which is hard?

I am so fucking sick of hearing about Dan Kennedy's goddamn "office power ballad."

Ugh. So glad I'm not the only one that irks. I have less than zero desire to even see that book anywhere. The title alone puts me off something fierce (but I'm also vehemently anti- working in an office, so there's probably some personal bias there).

Mine for today: I've been going back and listening to a bunch of Marc Maron's WTF Podcasts (and for the most part enjoying them thoroughly - I can't recommend the recent one with Bobcat Goldthwait highly enough). So today I was listening to the interview with Aziz Ansari, who for the record I'm fairly neutral on, but it interests me to hear comedians talk shop. Anyhow, Aziz must have used "like" as a buffer some 300 times in that 45-minute long conversation. I haven't heard that many "likes" since I was trudging through the halls of my middle school in the early 90's. It got very, very annoying.

I haven't heard that many "likes" since I was trudging through the halls of my middle school in the early 90's. It got very, very annoying.

To be fair, most people talk that way. Or in some similarly quirky improvisatory fashion. It's only annoying because you have to listen to it. (Again, editing.)

I ran across an interview with the 'royal couple' this week on some news show. Kate Middleton "you know"ed through 3 questions before I couldn't take it any more.

She didn't swear, though, which I would've done.

I'm always repeating nonsensical phrases when I talk. I hear it, it makes me crazy, but I can't seem to stop it. *sigh*