I'm starting to think like a linguist with all the things I'm learning from my Linguistics classes - I heard this little kid talking to his mom, and I thought, "Wow, he's got his auxiliaries already. Is he that old?" I'm also noticing a lot of backchanneling - it's pretty interesting, but making it a lot different for me when responding to people in conversations. I've noticed that I get really sick of giving backchannels to one of my friends because she talks sooo much at the end of the school day when I just want to rest on the drive home. Also, I have tried NOT giving backchannels to see people's reactions - it's hilarious. They say, "Are you listening?" "Michelle?" or they just repeat what they just said. When Stacy and I were at McDonald's, the drive-up lady never said "Uh-huh" or "Yeah" or "Okay" or even repeated what Stacy ordered, so Stacy started all over again, and finally the lady said, "I heard you." So, I would challenge you to try not giving backchannels at least once - in a conversation, if you are mainly the listener and not the speaker, refrain from nodding or saying, "Yes" or "Okay" or "Uh-huh" or "Go on" and see what happens!