I started to notice this phony-casual maneuver a couple years ago.
Now I see it everywhere:
"Germany wants other countries to be more, well, German."
"All of which makes the very notion of the Great American Novel sound,
well, un-American."
"The Indianapolis Colts have looked lost. The Jacksonville Jaguars have looked like, well, the Jaguars."
"I knew the White House wanted a compromise on the debt ceiling. I just didn't expect them to do quite so much, well, compromising."
"Robbe-Grillet's interest in sexual violence will be alien to someone averse to sadism, and Lin's interest in twee midnight adventures is going to seem ridiculous to someone without any interest in, well, twee midnight adventures."
I wonder if this affectation is related to trends discussed in this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/another-thing-to-sort-of-pin-on-david-foster-wallace.html?pagewanted=all
Well?
