Blah Blah Blah, Etc.
We need social spaces and places to vent our enthusiasm from time to time when we find ourselves moving faster than the speed of words. Blah blah blah is a special kind of utterance linguists call a “placeholder” in discourse, which can prevent us from tripping on a syllable and breaking our tongue.
Blah blah blah is tough to classify as a part of speech. The Oxford dictionary1 defined this utterance as follows: "and other words that mean very little.” With no definitive status in grammar or semantics, linguists use the term “pragmatics” to capture the sense of such utterances. It does its job well.
***
Truth be told, blah blah blah is more of a traffic signal than a destination. In the middle of a juicy story or an interesting explanation barreling down the boulevard, it’s just counterproductive to slow down the car for no reason else we get rear ended. There’s no rule of thumb for estimating how many words the average blah blah blah covers up. Listeners have to trust the speaker nothing important was blah blahed.
Blah blah blah has linguistic cousins, which are like high frequency words except they have no syntactic nor semantic associations. “The” may be among the most frequent words we use hundreds of times a day. The isn’t blah blah blah because the means the, not a, this, not that, blah blah, blah.
Blah’s cousin are everywhere, though not all are the same type of placeholder. “Uh-oh.” Milk dripped from the high chair. “Num num.” Isabel wants the cookie she points to. “Mmmm.” Jerry loves strawberry jam. “Yuck!” A bite of broccoli spat into a napkin. “Huh?” What in the world is going on? Or “huh.” I’d never have imagined! “Duh.” How can anyone with a pulse be so stupid? Or “duh.” How did I miss that?
***
A quick google search tells you blah blah blah is blah blah blah wherever you go. "Patati patata" say the French. Spanish and Italian (bla bla bla), German (blabla), Russian (bla bla bla [Бла-бла-бла] or Ta-ta-ta ]Та-та-та]) and Japanese [Nani nani (何々) or "Kaka" (かか)] provide the evidence of universality. People across the globe desire to sidestep boredom or to prevent a dump of extraneous or incriminating clump of data that risks overwhelming the point.
Think about the possibility of blah blah blah having a syntactic structure. Blah is the subject, blah is the verb, and—?—blah can be either an object or a complement, depending on the force of the verb. Blah blahed blah. Blah blahs blahly blah blah blahs.
***
The phrase “blah blah blah” has never been a “hot topic” in sociolinguistic research, but it may be among the dearest of phrases to the listener. For the audience blah blah blah is not a placeholder so much as a reprieve, an act of kindness. “Thank you so much! I’m not going to have to feign understanding and interest.”
Pragmatics of blah blah blah demonstrate how context and intonation can convey meaning beyond words: “The guy’s a blow hard. BLAH! BLAH BLAH!!!” Each BLAH lands BOOM like a wrecking ball. Iambic trimeter, a type of poetic rhythm, can convey a light-heartedness, suggesting the displaced substance could perhaps be funny but not worth the effort: blah BLAH/blah BLAH/ blah BLAH!
***
Just as a pressure cooker's release valve lets out excess steam to prevent an explosion, "blah blah blah" can serve as a verbal release of pent-up emotions or thoughts. After a nasty divorce, the forgotten spouse may need to vent to prevent a blowout: “She told me so many reasons she’s sick of me. She called me selfish (sniffle), she called me cheap (sniffle sniffle), she called me blah blah blah.” He reaches for a Kleenex and stops the sniffling.
Frustrating or dismissive or humiliating situations can bring about a smorgasbord of "blah blah blahs.” Much like the hissing sound of a pressure valve releasing steam, the person passed over for a promotion may decide to blah blah all the reasons the boss gave for the decision.
“She said I toyed with coworkers too much and they complained. ‘They don’t think it’s funny when you tell filthy jokes.’ Oh, I waste too much time writing up suggestions for how to improve this sucky place. Oh, yeah then she dove into what happened last Christmas at the company party. Oh, geez blah blah blah blah BLAH!” His fist punctuates each blah.
***
The vagueness of "blah blah blah" allows for emotional expression without the commitment or vulnerability of clear content, similar to how a pressure valve releases excess without compromising the corned beef.
To blah, or not to blah. That is the question. I wanted to see what Claude would do with blah blah blah so I asked for a paragraph about a visit to a doctor’s office. It’s interesting that Claude used the same function of the utterance with zero nuance. Here’s the bot:
As I entered Dr. Smith's office, the receptionist greeted me with a monotonous "Name and insurance, blah blah blah." I recited my information while she typed away, muttering "Date of birth, allergies, blah blah blah." The waiting room was packed with patients scrolling through their phones, probably reading "symptoms, WebMD, blah blah blah." Suddenly, a loud crash came from one of the exam rooms. "Uh oh," I thought, wondering what could've happened. The nurse called my name, leading me down a hallway plastered with posters about "Flu shots, check-ups, blah blah blah." As we approached the exam room, I overheard the doctor discussing a diagnosis: "Treatment options, side effects, blah blah blah." The nurse opened the door, revealing a chaotic scene of scattered instruments and a sheepish-looking doctor. "Yikes," I muttered, realizing this might not be the smooth visit I had hoped for.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/blah-blah-blah?topic=sounds-used-as-interjections