Why do people hum?

Answer 1

17% - don't know the words.
22% - can't carry a tune
12% - are accompanying the choir in their head
21.5- ploy to make you think they're actually happy doing what they're doing while they're really plotting world domination!!!
27.5%- just do it to annoy others!

Answer 2

Why do people question why people hum?

Humming is usually used when someone doesn't know the words to a song they have stuck in their head or just for relaxation when singing words out loud would not be appropriate (like at work or in school or a formal setting).

Answer 3

Why Do People Hum

Answer 4

Here are some possibilities~
1) Like someone else said, they don't know the words to a song.
2) They're scared/nervous; some people whistle because of this reason as well ...
3) They're trying to fill up awkward silence in a room or in a conversation.
4) They like to hum.
5) They enjoy that buzzing sensation in your throat when you hum.
6) They are practicing beforehand for something, but they are in an inappropriate situation/location to start belting out tunes, so they instead revert to soft humming, (i.e. just today, in fourth period, a girl sitting behind me was trying out for high school musical in my highschool, and I heard her humming scales softly).
7) It's a habit of their's, (My friend often whistles and hums randomly, ><)

Answer 5

Well, there are many reasons.
Because they don't know the words, but they know the tune.
Because they don't feel like singing the actual words.

The list can go on, but I'll give you a fact on humming that helps a singer.
If you hum in good tune and you can shape your words well, your singing may improve, sound better and be easier. In choir, we used to practise by humming to get the tune right. It works!

Answer 6

People usually hum for one of a couple of reasons:

1. They wish they could have some music to listen to.
2. It too quiet.
3. They can't remember the lyrics.
or 4. They are just plain bored.

Me, personally I find that it helps to pass time for all of the above reasons when I'm at work. (And yes it helps to be on key!)

Answer 7

Depends. They can be bored, have a song stuck in there head, not know the words to a part of the song, or just hum because there happy.

Answer 8

People hum they either don't know the words or just to hum a melody or rhythm. I know I hum to keep my voice down when I sing because I sing loud.

Answer 9

Because they don't know the words!!! LOL

Seriously, sometimes I hum out of boredom and I don't have the worlds best singing voice, so humming sounds better.

Answer 10

The reason that people hum is to keep themselves occupied and to keep themselves company. Kind of like smoking cigarettes and such. I should know my 75 year old Dad hums all the time, sometimes I know the song and sometimes I do not know the song.

Answer 11

Because a tune or song runs in their head. Whether they knew the lyrics or the proper tune or not doesn't matter, as the song runs through their head, they either consciously or subconsciously sing softly with it, hence the humming.

What's with people who hum? More often than not, they have inner peace at that moment (that is they are not troubled by anything) and are cheerful. You'll never seen any one humming while scowling, do you?

What is the exact opposite of a person who hums? He who is grumbling.