how often is さ used as a filler like our “like”? is it very common?

for example, could i say 「私さスタバへさ行ったさ…」？
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2019-05-13T22:50:27.477
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2020-11-12T01:11:24.407
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colloquial-language word-usage
Use of さ as a filler
First, your example, 私さスタバへさ行ったさ, sounds funny because:

  * 行った is a 終止形, so attaching a filler after it sounds weird. True sentence-end さ [exists](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1895/5010), but it has a different function and tone. さ in 行っ **て** さ works as a filler.
  * You normally need a comma after each filler.
  * さ is relatively masculine, and it's most commonly used with 俺.

After fixing them, something like this would look much better:

> 俺さ、昨日さ、スタバにさ、行ってさ、アイスコーヒーをさ、頼んでさ、それでさ、…

This sentence is still unrealistic, but it's simply because there are too many
fillers. It's for showing where and how you can insert the filler naturally.

So, how common is this type of さ in reality? It's a bit hard question to me. I
believe young people in Kanto (especially "charai" ones who like to hang
around in Shibuya or Harajuku) use it a lot, but I spent my childhood in
several western parts of Japan where either な or の was the most common filler.
I now live in Tokyo, but I rarely hear さ in my daily life, at least partly
because most people around me are businesspersons, researchers or otaku who
tend to prefer ね.
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2019-05-14T00:27:25.223
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narutos answer (as usually) seems to be the best you may get.

About the realistic usage of さ as a filler: I've been living in the rural
North-Kanto (North-Saitama and Gunma) for the lasts two years and I could
experience frequent use of さ as a filler by each males AND females of all
ages. Even though it makes the women sound more mascular it is really not
uncommon here in Gunma.

As psosuna stated though I really would not try to learn or use it on purpose.
Me for myself always try to keep the language as clean as possible but
recently using さ in some cases just became natural.

TLDR: It is used more frequently in some parts of Japan than in others. You
should not try and aim for using it by yourself since it may become a bad
habit which might be hard to stop with.
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2019-05-14T02:12:30.883
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2019-05-14T02:12:30.883
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I live in rural Wakayama and young children (around the beginning of primary
school) use さ A LOT when they speak - at least when speaking to each other.
They use it at the end of single words, at the end of short sentences, at the
end of long sentences...

It's definitely used as a filler/a colloquial style of speech.
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