An easy one for the educated amongst you! As my book is being edited in house, that house being ours house... I am at an impasse with my editor, she being the one with the an education unlike me!!! I think Hmm she thinks Mmm. Context I can hear from here every one shouting, Ok I will put it into context.
"The handsome looks... hmm, well maybe! however, just now they were hidden behind the grime and grit that also covered his clothes.
or mmm
My Wife, sorry my editor thinks that modern day speech has changed it to the latter. Well who is going to be smug, the educated one or me?
Thank you, Paul.
I think either is rare in published fiction. Everyday speech is littered with hmm and um and er, but they don't usually work on the printed page unless you want them to convey something very specific about the character or circumstances of the speaker.
Two (2) beans coming right up!
I may be old-fashioned (maybe), and it's true that I've lived outside the UK for over 30 years, but I'd use hmm - or even hmmm or hmmn.
I don't know about "negative connotations", for me hmm implies thinking about something, which implies doubt. But I certainly wouldn't call doubt negative. People who are 100% sure of themselves are the most dangerous people around!
Mmm (or mmmm, but NOT mmmn) - to me - implies pleasure, as in "Mmmm, Bisto!" (Though, speaking personally, I have my doubts about Bisto...)
Modern usage might have kicked Bisto out the window, I don't know. Hmmm...
As to Adrian's question: Both maybe and may be fit the bill in this context, with an interesting shade of difference in the meaning. But ma ybe would be quite out of place.
Hmm, has doutful connotations, which suits, 'well may be'.
Now a question for you. Do you think 'maybe' should one word in this context, or, may be?