History VerbalTic / Literature

* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Any time either Swan, Essien or Jameel mention the late Prince Hasan they add "may he rot in the Netherhells".

-->I don't know how my grandmother came to adopt the term ''whatsitsname'' as her lietmotif, but as the years passed it invaded her sentences more and more often. I like to think of it as an unconscious cry for help... as a seriously-meant question. [Naseem] was giving us a hint that, for all her presence and bulk, she was adrift in the universe. She didn't know, you see, what it was called.

* Offscreen, in Spider Robinson's novel ''Stardance'': the narrator mentions a character who unthinkingly replies "There you go" to everything anyone says. By the end of their acquaintance, the narrator is considering dumping him out an airlock. "There he goes, I kept thinking, there he goes ... "

* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' had "Sherrif" Collie Entragian who had a habit of adding "TAK!" to the end of random sentences. He was [[spoiler:possessed by the UltimateEvil at the time]]

* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' had "Sherrif" Collie Entragian who had a habit of adding "TAK!" to the end of random sentences. He was [[spoiler: Possessed by the UltimateEvil at the time]]

** Carcer Dun of ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'' is arguably one of these -- he punctuates his speech with an "irritatingly patronising chortle", which is always rendered in the text as "haha." We also have Captain Tilden, what. And Snouty, hnah. Captain Swing also exhibits afunnyway...of speaking.

** And [[Literature/MenAtArms E-Edward D-D'eath]], and[[Literature/FeetOfClay --aha, aha--Dragon King of Arms]].

* Gollum in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. In this case, the character is actually named after his catchphrase. He also addresses his words to the Precccioussssss frequently.

** This is just ''grand''-- Gurgan Spearback, as well as a tribe of hedgehogs near Martin's old home in the north.

* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'': Sirians (an alien race) have a tendency to occasionally add "hi?" at the end of questions, especially when irritated or menacing.

* From the ''Litearture/HoratioHornblower'' novels ''The Happy Return'' to ''Flying Colours'', Hornblower has a penchant of answering any remarks addressed to him with "ha, h'm." When he says this to Lady Barbara, she instantly pegs it as a 'useful noncommittal sound' which he uses to avoid expressing emotion or getting chatty. Although she apologizes on realizing she's broken a shield of his, when they actually ''marry'' she evidently feels free enough to tease him until he stops doing it. When he unconsciously falls back on it in ''The Commodore'', he's so pleased with himself for rediscovering it that he drags it out for several seconds while talking with an unfortunate junior officer.

* Nancy from ''Literature/{{Pollyanna}}'' has a penchant for repeating what she said twice at the end of the sentence, she does, she does. Another verbal tic of hers is "My stars and stockings".
* Both a {{Fauxreigner}}, "Gunther" and "Madame Lulu" from ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' say "please" in almost every sentence.

* Sparhawk from ''Literature/TheElenium'' calls anyone he didn't know very well as "neighbor." He says he's just trying to be friendly. When asked why he doesn't just call them friend, he says that they aren't actually his friend yet, so he doesn't know if he'll have to kill them at some point.
* Sartain Stradius from ''Literature/FelsicCurrent'', says "See" at the beginning of sentences, or at the end, or after a comma. Anywhere. And often, see.
* Mariana from Icarus Phaethon's ''Goodbye, Mr. Descartes'', with her idiosyncratic habit of beginning her sentences with "Aha".
* Padfoot in ''Literature/{{Summerland}}'' interjects his chuckle, described as paper dry, into almost everything he says.
* Hasimir Fenring of Frank Herbert's ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' tends to pepper his dialog with phrases such as "hmmmm" and "hmmmm-aaah" for no apparent reason. However, this is actually a plot point - Fenring and his wife have a private code disguised as humming, allowing them to hide a conversation with one another in the midst of an overt conversation with someone else. However, it ''sounds'' like a verbal tic to other characters.
* ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'':
** The bally hares, wot!
** Asssssssmodeussssss the sssnake alssso hasss the odd habit of hissssssing hisss own name between sssentencesss... *Assssssmodeussssssss*... Ego issssssuesss?
** Asssssssmodeussssss' dessscendant, Balissssss, doesss the sssame thing. Balisssssssss...
** The bats have spent so long living in caves that they're now in the habit of providing their own echo, echo, echo ...
** Friar Bellows. ''Good, good''.
** "''I Am The Law''"
** An' all dem molers, ''bo hurr''
** This is just ''grand''- Gurgan Spearback, as well as a tribe of hedgehogs near Martin's old home in the north.
* The Creator/PaulJennings short story "Without a Shirt" concerns a kid who can't speak without ending his sentences with the titular phrase.
* [[Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye Holden Caulfield]] thought what he'd do was, he that that he'd have a few. He really does.
* ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' had "Sherrif" Collie Entragian who had a habit of adding "TAK!" to the end of random sentences. He was [[spoiler: Possessed by the UltimateEvil at the time]]
* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'', especially in book five. Say thankya and hear me well.

* From ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Carcer Dun of ''Literature/NightWatchDiscworld'' is arguably one of these - he punctuates his speech with an "irritatingly patronising chortle", which is always rendered in the text as "haha." We also have Captain Tilden, what. And Snouty, hnah. Captain Swing also exhibits afunnyway...of speaking.
** Brother Nhumrod of ''Literature/SmallGods'' has a habit of repeating the last few words of the previous speaker. Many of Creator/TerryPratchett's characters (especially his villains) have this sort of verbal tic, whether by the in-sertion of mispla-ced pauses orbyhaving... the speedof the... words be . . . curiouslyrandom or just by using a lot of --ing {{Unusual Euphemism}}s.
** And [[Literature/MenAtArms E-Edward D-D'eath]], and[[Literature/FeetOfClay --aha, aha--Dragon King of Arms]].
** In ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'', Inigo Skimmer has a habit of saying "mmm", "mmhm", or some variant thereof every few words.
** ''Literature/SoulMusic'': Mr. Clete's mirthless laugh: "Hat hat hat."
** ''Literature/TheTruth'': Mr. Tulip's habit of dropping "--ing" into his sentences turns out to be this when it's revealed [[LampshadeHanging he really is just saying "--ing"]].
** In Literature/{{Snuff}}, Lord Rust has picked up a habit of adding "what" to the end of sentences. It annoys Vimes greatly.

* [[Characters/HarryPotterMinistryOfMagic Professor Umbridge]] in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' frequently clears her throat (usually to interrupt someone), rendered as "hem hem." And then there's Ron's "Bloody hell!" [[note]]not in the books[[/note]]
* Gollum in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. In this case, the character is actually named after his catchphrase. He also addresses his words to the Precccioussssss frequently.
* Bonzo Madrid of ''Literature/EndersGame'', sabe?
* Detective Logan from the ''Literature/{{Kadingir}}'' series usually utters/yells/grunts "Nyè!" to express anything from surprise, to anger, to frustration, to simple boredom. The catchphrase itself is an homage to the Catalan dub of ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''.

* Literature/JacobTwoTwo, because he has two brothers and two sisters and two parents, yes, two brothers, two sisters, and two parents, says everything twice. He says everything two times. Nobody ever hears him the first time. No, nobody ever hears him the first time.
* Offscreen, in Spider Robinson's novel ''Stardance'': the narrator mentions a character who unthinkingly replies "There you go" to everything anyone says. By the end of their acquaintance, the narrator is considering dumping him out an airlock. "There he goes, I kept thinking, there he goes ... "
* Creator/ShirleyJackson, in her loosely autobiographical ''Literature/RaisingDemons'', describes her daughter Sally going through a phase, at about four, where she repeated the key word in every sentence: "Well, I told Amy's mother that I did not have any breakfast, breakfast, because my mommy did not wake up and give it to me, mommy. And Amy's mother said I was a poor baby, baby, and she gave me cereal and fruit, cereal, and she said there, dear, and she gave me chocolate milk, and I ''did'' remember to say thank you, remember." (Jackson was gifted at capturing the verbal tics of small children's speech: "You bad bad webbis.")
* Blagden, the white raven from the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', frequently yells, "Wyrda!" (which means "fate" in the Ancient Language).

* Walder Frey in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' often makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt: "Heh".
** Also Hodor, hodor. It's the only word he knows, hodor, like Gollum above he is actually named after this, his real name being Walder.
* Kenneth 'Type of Thing' Hindle in ''Literature/ThePaleKing''.
* J.R.Ward's ''Literature/BlackDaggerBrotherhood'' character, [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Vishous]] tends to substitute other words with, "true" or otherwise use the word as a sentence-closer; "You've got my back, true?" or "We'll get this done, true."
* Creator/JohnRingo's Poertena from the ''Literature/PrinceRoger'' series (co-written with Creator/DavidWeber. And later his expy as Portana into Ringo's ''Literature/IntoTheLookingGlass'' Series, both of which frequently use the UnusualEuphemism "Pock".
* Hallo, I say, [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] has ''millions'' of these, don't you know, what? Right ho! (On a lesser level, there's [[TheJeeves Jeeves]], who manages to interject a respectful "sir" into nearly every line he says.)
* Mistress Coyle of ''Literature/ChaosWalking'' ends almost all her sentences the same way, my girl.

* Creator/KAApplegate seems to like using this trope for a very specific type of character. In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' David has a tendency to say the name of the person he's talking to [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment several times in a single conversation]], usually when he's trying to be threatening. Later in Applegate's second series ''Literature/{{Everworld}}'', David's {{Expy}} Senna exhibits a very similar tic.
** Ax, an Andalite, is telepathic, has no mouth in his normal form and is a bit of a SenseFreak, so whenever he morphs into a human he starts playing with his sounds. Ownds. Suh-OWND-zzz.
* Every time the glass cat in [[Literature/LandOfOz The Patchwork Girl of OZ]] mentions its pink brains, the phrase "you can see 'em work!" quickly follows, as the cat loves to brag about them.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'': Gurgi will add 'ing' to nounds like "Smitings and bitings" or "Sneakings and peekings."
* Dojango Roze from the ''Literature/GarrettPI'' novels is actually a good example, because he actually says his favorite word an awful lot, actually.
* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'': Sirians (an alien race) have a tendency to occasionally add "hi?" at the end of questions, especially when irritated or menacing.
* In ''Literature/MidnightsChildren'', Naseem gains a tendency to pepper her sentences with "whatsitsname" after her marriage. Saleem speculates:
-->I don't know how my grandmother came to adopt the term ''whatsitsname'' as her lietmotif, but as the years passed it invaded her sentences more and more often. I like to think of it as an unconscious cry for help... as a seriously-meant question. [Naseem] was giving us a hint that, for all her presence and bulk, she was adrift in the universe. She didn't know, you see, what it was called.

* Keri the Pakhar in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''Legacy'' and the ''Literature/NewSeriesAdventures'' novel ''Big Bang Generation'', yeah?
* In ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'', Jones (who is a bit of a JiveTurkey) interlards his sentences with exclamations of "Ooo-wee" and "Woah!"
* From the ''Litearture/HoratioHornblower'' novels ''The Happy Return'' to ''Flying Colours'', Hornblower has a penchant of answering any remarks addressed to him with "ha, h'm." When he says this to Lady Barbara, she instantly pegs it as a 'useful noncomittal sound' which he uses to avoid expressing emotion or getting chatty. Although she apologizes on realizing she's broken a shield of his, when they actually ''marry'' she evidently feels free enough to tease him until he stops doing it. When he unconsciously falls back on it in ''The Commodore'', he's so pleased with himself for rediscovering it that he drags it out for several seconds while talking with an unfortunate junior officer.
* Downplayed in "Literature/ClockpunkAndTheVitalizer": Clockpunk twice says phrases three times in a row when stressed, like her ''Come on come on COME ON.''
* ''Literature/TailchasersSong'':
** Squirrels repeat words a lot. They ''are'' called "Rikchikchik" after all.
** The creepy, hairless Toothguard cats slither in their speech, like snakes.

* In ''Literature/GoodbyeMrChips'', as Chips gets older he makes many pauses punctuated with an "umph" in his speech.

* Creator/CatherineCookson, an author from OopNorth, has her characters repeat themselves. Oh, aye, they repeat themselves.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/GalleySlave": Professor Ninheimer has a habit of pausing in his speech, included as an "-uh-" between words. The narrative explains that his hesitation causes people to believe that he takes considerable time evaluating the possibility of even impossible ideas.
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': In book #14 (''The Cat Who Wasn't There''), Grace Utley has a habit of periodically ending her sentences in "... yes!".
* ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'': Neeka, the junior ambassador who works with the protagonists in ''The Tundra Trials'', constantly says things that her [[TranslatorMicrobes translator box]] translates as "Oh!" and "No!" When she gets upset, she can hardly say anything else.

* ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'',
** Rachel Lynde, that's what.

* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'': Gurgi will add 'ing' to nounds like "Smitings and bitings" or "Sneakings and peekings."

* OopNorth author Catherine Cookson's characters tend to repeat themselves. Oh, aye, they repeat themselves.