Why do so many women do this?
- Thread starter dss62467
- Start date
I agree with Kathryn, it could be a regional thing. I have never really noticed mmmbye. I have noticed the "bye-bye" valley girl thing. I am a little guilty of that myself, including saying "like" too much.
A couple of us around my office will joke around and do a prom queen wave with "bye-bye", or do the airline attendant "bye-bye", "bye-now", thing. (Maybe that's a SNL skit?).
Again, it could be a regional thing, because I have noticed that people from the Northern part of the country say "bye-now". (I am from Louisiana)
Sandra S.
A couple of us around my office will joke around and do a prom queen wave with "bye-bye", or do the airline attendant "bye-bye", "bye-now", thing. (Maybe that's a SNL skit?).
Again, it could be a regional thing, because I have noticed that people from the Northern part of the country say "bye-now". (I am from Louisiana)
Sandra S.
Shelbygirl
Cathlete
I'm going to agree with those that think it's a regional thing. I've lived in the Philadelphia area for nearly 40 years (oh man, I've never actually put that in print before!) and I don't think I've heard that phrase even once. I can see how it would get annoying though!
Shelbygirl
Shelbygirl
carolynjane
Cathlete
I remember reading somewhere about a study that showed that when women talk, we tend to reflect either insecurity or a desire for approval. In the study, they showed that women end sentences with a question mark-inflection even when it should be a statement and that men don't do that. I listened to women (myself included) speak after I read that and found it's true!!! So the mmmbye might be connected to that - instead of just speaking in statement form we mumble.
If it is a regional thing, I must be in the wrong region because I hear it all the time and it drives me nuts. I sometimes want to ask the person who said that to spell it for me. I live in Kansas City, right in the middle I guess, but I hear it all the time, manly from the southern people that I know. Oh, it drives me nuts!
I live "pert near" St. Louis and hear it. 
Gosh, I probably say it. Apparently, there are other regional things here in my part of the world. My MIL calls a sink a "zink", and it makes me cringe. I had never heard "zink" before but have since learned it is common in certain areas in southeast MO. She also says "walmark". One time she told me a story about a man who was too close to a fire and "syringed" his hair. And to think, she pronounces my name "Audumb".
I have a whole list of words and phrases that drive me nuts... "real-a-tor" rather than "realtor"... NAUSEOUS rather than NAUSEATED... I probably need to just get over it.
Autumn
Gosh, I probably say it. Apparently, there are other regional things here in my part of the world. My MIL calls a sink a "zink", and it makes me cringe. I had never heard "zink" before but have since learned it is common in certain areas in southeast MO. She also says "walmark". One time she told me a story about a man who was too close to a fire and "syringed" his hair. And to think, she pronounces my name "Audumb". I have a whole list of words and phrases that drive me nuts... "real-a-tor" rather than "realtor"... NAUSEOUS rather than NAUSEATED... I probably need to just get over it.
Autumn
WannaBeStrong
Cathlete
My husband does this. LOL!
Shirley
Shirley
Sometimes women add an mmm because of lack of confidence. Have you noticed how sometimes women will make a statement sound like a question? For example, I live in Virginia? instead of I live in Virginia. It's because women either have learned these cutsey ways of speaking along the way and found them to satisfy their needs, or, they are indicating a lack of self-confidence.
That's my take on it from being a corporate trainer of personal communications.
Patricia
That's my take on it from being a corporate trainer of personal communications.
Patricia
I am from the Midwest and they have their share of speech violations.
The 'zink' comes from the German word for sink and is said with a z-like sound. A lot of Germans settled in the Midwest so it's just a hanger-on.
We also say 'war'ter instead of water. Warsh instead of wash.
I'm a fixin' or I'm a gettin'. Lots of things like that that I broke myself of when I moved away and others started making fun of the way I talked. Now my family says I talk like a Northerner. Funny...when I was in Minnesota they said I sounded like a Southerner. Well, I told them that everyone is a Southerner compared to them!!!;-)
The 'zink' comes from the German word for sink and is said with a z-like sound. A lot of Germans settled in the Midwest so it's just a hanger-on.
We also say 'war'ter instead of water. Warsh instead of wash.
I'm a fixin' or I'm a gettin'. Lots of things like that that I broke myself of when I moved away and others started making fun of the way I talked. Now my family says I talk like a Northerner. Funny...when I was in Minnesota they said I sounded like a Southerner. Well, I told them that everyone is a Southerner compared to them!!!;-)
