I'm beginning to notice that 85% of Nigerians cannot talk for a long time without speech mannerisms such as.. "you know . . .", " ee know . . .", "as in. . .", "emmm. . ." and lots more. Even those in the media and others who are supposedly acclaimed to have a good command in english language are guilty of this.
Fellow nairalanders, what can we do to ourselves to eliminate these mannerisms and speak much more fluently?

What's wrong with the mannerisms,i'd be disappointed if they didn't display such when they speak cuz i kinda like it.

I believe that's our identity as Nigerians, something we should be proud of, jst the same way you can recognise a British accent or a Black Americans Speech mannerism, I'm proud of Nigeria!

You can take me out of Nigeria but you can't take Nigeria out of me

Abeg make e dey go like that joor.

"85 percent of Nigerians" how many Nigerians have you chat with? Where did you get such statistics? May be is within your village.

vb0mb: "85 percent of Nigerians" how many Nigerians have you chat with? Where did you get such statistics? May be is within your village.

I don't have to chat with them directly.. I've listen to lots of them speak, with that alone I can draw reasonable conclusion.. I was just being lenient to say "85%" I would have still been correct if I said 95%...

Is it making you depressed?

andicod1st: I'm beginning to notice that 85% of Nigerians cannot talk for a long time without speech mannerisms such as.. "you know . . .", " ee know . . .", "as in. . .", "emmm. . ." and lots more. Even those in the media and others who are supposedly acclaimed to have a good command in english language are guilty of this.
Fellow nairalanders, what can we do to ourselves to eliminate these mannerisms and speak much more fluently?

It's evident in all national groups. Comes with the accent.
Some of us have perfected it to the tee whilst for others it slips into speech and yet still some would deliberately continue on with it just get a rise out of you.

Ummmmm, you know, emmmm as in I hate to say that you are a first class illiterate. Have you ever stepped out of Nigeria?

Have you heard other nationalities speak apart from the ones you hear in movies?

Have you bagged a Msc. or PhD? I doubt if you even have Bachelor's degree. You don't quote an exact figure on something that has not been researched, reviewed, published by scholars.

You should have said "In my own opinion, I think more than xx% of my family can't talk for long without speech mannerisms".