The Evolution of Conversational Language

1039. People are saying "I mean" more lately, and we explain what it ... means! Plus, we look at why people leave out pronouns at the beginning of sentences such as "Ordering pizza!"

The "I mean" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." You can find her at valeriefridland.com.

The "pronoun deletion" segment was written by Karen Lunde, a former Quick and Dirty Tips editor who has crafted hundreds of articles on the art of writing well. She was an online education pioneer, founding one of the first online writing workshops. These days, she provides writing tips and writing coach services at HelpMeWriteBetter.com.

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