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English Language & Usage

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  • Thanks, @Hachi. I didn't realize that there was a hyperlink tool in the answer toolbar. That makes the answer much easier to read.
    – Isabel Archer
    Commented May 6, 2020 at 11:37
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    Good find, but I'm wondering if this is a specifying definition. The sense is absent from most of the dictionaries I've checked, while Collins gives a broader definition, much overlapping with that of 'garble': to speak so rapidly and inexactly that distortions of sound and phrasing result. Is there the definition you use given by an authority outside a single specific organisation?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 6, 2020 at 11:53
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    This is not the general answer to the question, it's only for the rare case of fluency disorder. Most of the time people go umm and ahh, it has to do with embarrassment or not knowing how to explain, not any disorder.
    – smci
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 3:53
  • The link also states "If you clutter, you often speak fast and merge some words together or cut off parts of them." Which is completely different from the behaviour described in the question. So I dont think this is a good answer.
    – Cyberwiz
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 8:03
  • I was thinking that there is probably a medical term for this, though come to think of it, I wonder if, more specifically, psychologists don't perhaps have a generic term for the action of saying 'um' when thinking what to say, because it not only applies to people with a disorder. Everyone does it at some point.
    – mydoghasworms
    Commented May 9, 2020 at 14:10