I didn't start this thread to nitpick language. My intention was for it to be informational and helpful, especially relative to the written word.
Fair enough, my mistake.
I'm not saying that no one should ever use words like 'afterwards' or 'anyways' or countless other words that are commonly used.
One play where it's useful, as is run-on sentences, and "Uhm..." Is in spoken word, where people's diction is a little less rigid, because they're thinking while they talk. In a forum like this, or on social media, they at least have the opportunity to read what they wrote, or pause...
In the middle of a thought, and go on without being interrupted, because it's not realtime. Not really even a dialog, though admittedly some people don't seem to use the opportunity to think about what they say before they post it.
I kinda specialize in people talking like 4th graders. For example, a 4th grader is not going to write with the same diction as her Teacher. On the assumption that the teachers have more to teach them, before they get to take Creative Writing as an elective (Around 10th Grade.)
So anyways, it helps me think more like a 4th grade student, talking to her teacher, if she doesn't talk like an English Professor. In fact, realistically, she shouldn't. Jos Wheadon is a master of this, to the point that TVtropes coined the phrase Buffyspeak. I've been trying to get them to do a page on the opposite, Veronica Mars Verbosity, but if you're familiar with that show, it's about the best example.
She's gifted, I get that. However, all of her friends talked like they were giving an oral examination in Social Studies. In high school. Not trying to derail your thread here, again, but I do think it's a fantastic topic. How people actually speak, compared with the way they are supposed to speak.
Particularly in stories where they make excuses for having sex with their 4th grade students, for example.