WHY WE DO SAY 'UM', 'ER' or 'AH' WHEN WE HESITATE IN SPEAKING?

Hi Mahesh, I think these expressions just come out naturally from our mouth as it allows us few moments to think what we exactly want to say and to see that we speak right thing and not something that may cause any kind of misunderstandings.....sometimes it happens that we are engrossed in something so deeply that when a question not connect to our subject is suddenly asked, we get confused and utter um , er or ah,,,,,till our mind starts working on this new subject.......so all this is natural, no body even notices this.......except Mahesh.......lol

I say um, but I donot say it alot. My 11 year old daughter says um a lot nearly every sentence when she is pausing. I can't concentrate on what she is saying alot of the time as I pick up on all the ums she says. It can become a really bad habit.

I've always heard that people do this when speaking because of lack of confidence in what they are saying. My hubby is an English major so he hates when people speak like this. And he is always sure to call me out when I speak like this. And yes it drives me crazy when he does.

This is what i think but i could be wrong I think that some people started to say it when they hesitate and now we heard them so we do it. Thats my only idea because how else would we? Really Great Question Also :)