i !J i! ""AUTHENTIC ENGLISH lANGUAGE •USING VAGUE TAGS
Um bei einer Aussage weitere Möglichkeiten zuzulassen, setzt
man sprachliche Anhängsel ein, wie ALMUT KOSTER erklärt.I
t may be surprising to learn that people often use ~
expressions at work. Here, we look at one particular
type: vague lRgi. These are added to the end of a sen-
lence or piece of information;- We tr)' to put your logo or something on there.
Other vague tags are;
"or something like that"
"and things (Iike thai)"
"and stuff {like thaU"
"and so forth"- Completing a list
"or anything ([ike thaI)"
"and everything"
"or whalever"
~etcelera"Speakers often use vague tags to complete lists. In the
next example, "or something" is used to talk about coun-
tries from which a company imports comoonents. Because
the speaker has given two examples, the l istener knows
that "or something" refers to other exporting countries:- They import components from China or Indla er seme·
thing.
1I is usuall y enough 10 give juSI one example for the !is·
teners 10 understand Ihe kind of things referred to by the
vague tag. In Ihe next example, Dave is an artist who is
showing his design for a brochure to a colleague. He uses
the vague tag "and everylhing" to reler to all the things
that will be in the brochure, such as pholos, text, designs
and logos;- So, it's gQfU).Q be foyr.colour. So, you'lI get photos and
everything.
In Ihe next example, the speaker contrasts Ihe way or-
ders are placed now (on the internet) with the way they
used to be placed. Because she gives ooe example (byand 50 lorth I~n ,S;)IJ 'f:):O) und so weiter
and stuff l;ln 'sl"f] ifml. _____ ~"~'d""SO (Was)"' ___ _
apPfOximate 1;l'prokslm;)l! ungefahre(r. si
brochure ['br;)IJJ;lJ - - - Prospekt, BroschOre-
component Ik;lm'p;)IJn;lnll Bauteit
due back, be -I,dju: '~kJ zurOck seID sollen
10uHotour (.fJ; 'k"l~J vlerlarblg
ioi n nna advanl'g;ln;ll ce LID ifml. ;Kj'vu:n'"' gol~1 ng .,'----:==~~~.._:::;im Voraus ===:-
IIke the old way wie frOher eben
Llalk öi '~Id wel] /fm/.
review (ii'vju:] (Ober.IPfüfU:';;==
tag tare[lll'gl et l'IU:gIlJ __ --====A~nhangsel Ziet(vorgabel
telemariieter !'teli,mu:k""1 Tetefonverk8ufer(inl
up to: be -sb. to do sth.! 'AP lul bei Jmdm. hegen, etw. Zll
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fax), the listener knows that "and stuff" refers to other,
rather older methods, such as by telephone;- So, we order them online, instead of like the Q[d waV, YOU
know, we used 10 fax and stuff.
2, Giving alternatives
People also use vague tags to mention different alternatives.
In some cases, the speaker may not be sure about some·
Ihing, and so he uses a vague tag to check the in formation.
In Ihe oext example, Chris isn't sure when "the NCOA stuff"
is dye back, so he checks with Mike by aSking, "unt il oext
week, or somelhing?":
Chris: Oh, the NCOA sluff won't be back unli! nexl week,
or something?
Mike: Right. Until Wednesday or Thursday. at Ihe earliesl.Vague tags are also sometimes used 10 suggest alterna·
tives. In the next example. a telemarkeier, linda, is talk·
ing to a customer. By using Ihe vague lag "or something",
she shows that she is jus! making suggestions, but t hat it
is .uJL1Q the customer to tell her what he wants.
Linda: So, looking at your appointments, you mighl want
to perhaps put, oh, I don't know. let's say, three or
four days in adyance aside, or half days or some·
thing, thai you can give 10 us ...- GiYing approximate figures
Vague tags are also used 10 give estimates rather than exact
figures. In the next example, our telemarketer, Linda, is talk·
ing to her customer Josh. By adding "or something like
that". Josh shows thai the yearly ~ of 300 is an approx·
_male figure.
linda: OK. So, you've goi targets for diagnostic ~.
Josh: Yeah, we basically, as a team - we have a yearly
target to do so many diagnostics ... some 300 or
something like thaI. (J
ALMUT KOSTER is a senior lecturer m Engllsh al the
University of Birmingham and author of Investlgatmg
Workplace Discourse (Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-
36 471-3, .c24.99). She would lIke 10 thank Helena
Vladorova for some of the examples.Business SJx>digh1 85