The Power of "Um"!!!

I wrote to my friend TK thinking she was in Ashland, Oregon. She wrote back:

"Um . . . I'm in San Francisco now."

Ah, don't you just love the power and expressiveness of that "Um"?

It says, benignly: I believe you're under the impression that X when, in fact, Y .

Or:

Forgive me if I've given you the impressison that Y is X when, in fact, Y is Y.

Or it says a bit less benignly: Y is Y, not X, and, uh, you should kinda' know that . . . like everyone else, i.e., the people who aren't as oblivious to Y as you apparently are.

Or:

Earth to You, Y is Y and has been Y for quite some time now. (This is often accompanied by a quizzical look that appears to combine incredulity, vexation, and the backing away from a bad odor or an inability to translate what sounds like gibberish.)