Fellows of OLO,

I am thinking that the English is indeed a language of evolvement but the usage of "ums" and "ers" falls into a category of undesirableness,
and they should be thought of as intolerables.
Please to be excusing any intrusion of the quaint into this, my post, as English is, to me, being a second language.

I am

When my brother became a public spokesperson for an institution, he was often interviewed for TV and radio. Initially there were many "ums" and "ers", but he had the intelligence to take public speaking lessons.

@SPQR,

"But which one Susie? Because there is no single Aboriginal language --just as there was no single aboriginal nation."

Learning more about the 250 Aboriginal language groups is one of my interests. There appears to be little written about them. I made inquiries at a major NAIDOC Week event and got nowhere. At the National Museum of Australia bookshop I came across a very small book which had a page or two of native words. So if the language is only documented to that extent how can someone stand up in front of a crowd and "welcome it to country" speaking in the local native language. I'd like to see what was said tested on others claiming to be of the same tribe. I've got a feeling that the words spoken are no more authentic than the signing done by the signer at Nelson Mandela's commemoration ceremony.