tic

Nearly all of us have some kind of linguistic tic, some go-to phrase we probably don’t even know we use.

Some of them may be … accidental tics that, even if they prove useful for engineering and clinical applications, could be diversions on the road to a full understanding of the brain.

“Wearing a mask means people can’t see my facial tics, and I love that,” said Pietra Pereira, 19, a student in San Diego.

He reiterated the statements “I am not a politician” and “I am not a political advisor” so often that it seemed like a verbal tic.

He was asked if he worried that a tic might someday cause him to drop a ball.

In 2013, Der Spiegel pressed him on his condition: Der Spiegel: Has a ball ever slipped out of your hands because of a tic?

She seemed resolutely on message, quoting Ronald Reagan with such frequency that it almost bordered on being a verbal tic.

It's a telling tic that we often use "urban" as a synonym for "black."

But never mind; I cal'late this p'tic'lar pup won't bite; I've pulled his teeth, I guess.

Ornithoman′tic; Ornithoph′ilous, bird-fertilised; Or′nithopod, Ornithop′odous, having feet like a bird.

Periphras′tic, -al, containing or expressed by periphrasis or circumlocution.

Plethore′tic, Plethor′ic, -al, afflicted with plethora: superabundant: turgid.

Porismat′ic, -al; Poris′tic, -al, reducing a determinate problem to an indeterminate.