So for the latest Word of the Week, let’s, um, have a talk about, um … “um.”Why do we use it so much? Because of this, filler words with similar sounds and uses show up across languages and cultures. Brits and Australians say “erm.” Among Spanish speakers, “ehh” is comparable, and in Japan, they may say “ano,” Zafarris said. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it appears seven times per 1 million written English words. The dot-dot-dot bubble that pops up when a person is typing is essentially a virtual “um,” Dahan said.