the prevalent, pregnant pause

anyone who has watched at least two episodes (or two seconds) of csi: miami has probably noticed the distinct speaking style of horatio caine. most people absolutely hate it, but i happen to think that horatio is adorable -- maybe not i'd-like-to-marry-him-someday adorable but more like in-my-next-life-you-can-be-my-father adorable. i can't help it, this guy just grew on me. blame it on a csi: miami marathon i watched for 4 hours (and blame that on my cable-obsession).

anyway, what's different about horatio's speaking pattern is that he abuses the power of the pause -- a pause that usually comes after the first few words of his concluding sentences. if you've lived under a rock and need illumination, here are some choice samples of horatio-speak:

"we ... we have a murder on our hands."
"you ... need to find more evidence."
"my hair ... makes me look like i'm related to conan o'brien."

today i realized (and really, i should be alarmed at how this realization made my day), while watching unwrapped ("unwrapping secrets behind america's favorite foods!") that marc summers (host of aforementioned show, not related to suzanne or donna. sorry, couldn't help that) likes pausing somewhere towards the end of his sentences. for instance:

"their ice cream is still pretty much made ... the old-fashioned way."
"it's still one of america's favorite candies ... today."

what's with all the pauses? is there a pandemic of respiratory distress that makes tv personalities lose their breath in the middle of short sentences? yes, of course, it's for emphasis and all that, but really, a few times is probably enough. how hard can it be to figure out which part of the sentence is important? but then again, csi: miami and unwrapped are two of my favorite shows, so maybe there's magic behind all that pausing.

and maybe ... i really need to find a new ... hobby.