In linguistics, a
filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others that he/she has paused to think but has not yet finished speaking. These are not to be confused with
placeholder names, such as
thingamajig,
whatsamacallit,
whosawhatsa and
whats'isface, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown. Different languages have different characteristic filler sounds; in English, the most common filler sounds are
uh ,
er , and
um . Among youths, the fillers "like", "y'know", "I mean", "so", "actually", "basically", and "right" are among the more prevalent.
Ronald Reagan was famous for beginning his answers to questions with "Well...", as President
Barack Obama often begins statements with "Look...". Fillers fall into the category of
formulaic language.