Dictionary of Crutch Words

The Atlantic Wire recently published an article entitled "Actually, Literally, What Your Crutch Word Says About You."  This interesting article defines crutch words as "those expressions we pepper throughout our language as verbal pauses, and sometimes as written ones, to give us time to think, to accentuate our meaning (even when we do so mistakenly), or just because these are the words that have somehow lodged in our brains and come out on our tongues the most, for whatever reason."  Of course lawyers are guilty of using crutch words just like everyone else and they not only use them when talking to clients but also in court arguments.  Some examples of crutch words are "basically," "um," "honestly," "like," "it is what it is," and "seriously."  Read the article here for the entire dictionary of crutch words and what they say about you!
(credit to Law Librarian Blog)
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat