E.g.: "You bet! He did this, then that, and so... yeah!" (sometimes another word like "yeah" follows "so")
I'm guilty of it. ;)
They also covered what is, to me, an even weirder linguistic phenomenon, the common and growing use of "yeah, no" at the beginning of a response to somebody: http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/lexicon_valley/2013/0...
I use this "yeah, no" construction myself quite a lot. I have a strong instinctive understanding of how to use it, and what it means. But I don't think I could consciously provide a decent explanation of why I'm saying both yes and no about something.
Think of it as an informal but intimate way of speaking. If you just answered "No." it could come off a little bit cold or professional. By taking the time to use a few extra words you are showing more warmth to the asker.
"yes I have heard you, but I disagree with your point"
Something like: "did you try it this way?" "yeah, no that didn't work"
* Korean has a handful of useful verb forms that can signal, let's say, the role a sentence should serve inside the dialogue: do you want to tell something the listener should know, or something that they're not expected to know, or to reassert something already said, or say something expecting an answer? In English, such distinctions usually disappear, unless you want to be really explicit, in which case you say stuff like "I mean"/"I can see that"/"Did you notice"/etc. However, when I want to make such a distinction I'm already halfway into a sentence, so it's too late for me to go back in time and attach the "proper" English phrase to the beginning.
This is not surprising given how close the grammar is said to be for this pair of languages and it's a nice feature for people learning both.
"To be fair" and "In all honesty" (and combinations thereof) come up quite a bit.
I used to pepper my comments with phrases like "to be honest" but I never use it in speech. I've tried to eliminate it recently because it usually isn't needed.
For me, I think phrases like "however" and "to be fair" may come up a lot because I actively try to remain objective in conversations, and now I subconsciously add those into what I say as an indicator of considering different viewpoints. Then again, I may just be over-analyzing it.
(While we're at it, add "then again" to that list, haha.)
> Ellipses have their place, but they are also abused a lot…
This is a vague, non-committal statement. It looks as if the writer is afraid of the consequences of having an opinion!
Now the same sentence again, without the ellipses:
> Ellipses have their place, but they are also abused a lot.
A firm statement that shows you where the writer stands on the topic. Much better.
An ellipse in or at the end of a sentence means something is omitted, but it is also (unconsciously?) abused to try to make utterances less direct. Have you ever received a paragraph or two of text littered with those ellipses of avoidance? If you are well-read this likely conjures an image of some bored teen responding to a neighbour inquiring after the whereabouts of their parents:
> Yeah they're probably at home… I guess… Maybe not… Dunno…
…whereupon they promptly return their attention to their smartphone. Only it isn't a teenager; it is an adult colleague (not quite) giving their opinion on some topic.
> Ellipses have their place, but I get the impression that they are also abused a lot.
> Ellipses have their place, but aren't they also abused a lot?
> Ellipses have their place, but maybe they are abused a bit too much.
I agree, sometimes a statement needs to be softened to indicate uncertainty or just to be diplomatic, but there are many ways to do that without resorting to ambiguity. Perhaps, maybe, seemingly, ostensibly, surely, evidently; there are so many words that can help soften (or harden!) a statement, and each carries a different connotation. The ellipse on the other hand simple conveys its meaning of omission — but there is no indication of what it was that was omitted (uncertainty? rolling-my-eyes sarcasm? fatigue?).
It can come across as laziness on the writer's part — as if they couldn't be bothered to formulate their thoughts.
I don't know why.
The ellipsis also seems to soften the tone compared to a regular period.