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Sera's avatar

This is, is a terrific topic, and one that I was was waiting for for a long time. They do it with “was” too. (I snuck that double “for” in there in lieu of the briefer “eight”. Go figure.)

Truly fluent speakers such as Gore Vidal, or John LeCarré, don’t do this. It a nit that I trained myself not to pick, but recently I did actually see it in print. What it is, is a rhythmic glitch, and if people would form a sentence in their minds in advance, with the proper pauses they wouldn’t need to insert the extra beat.

“To be, or not to be, that is, is the question.”

Now, on word, to “like”. I recently heard an otherwise intelligent and interesting person use the word “like” 37 times in 60 seconds. I timed it. It’s become a plague.

Great work, thanks!

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Lou Tilsley's avatar

I don’t think I’ve ever really come across this. In the examples used I think I would just omit the second “is” and it would still make sense. It feels more like a verbal tick to me 🤷‍♀️

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