quicko: look

This is one of those verbal turns of phrase that Americans have, but Australians use abundantly. "Look ..." is the perfect beginning to any Australian sentence, though particularly if said Aussie is about to disagree, add additional information or otherwise proceed down a slightly different course than the other conversant was taking. It's also often preceded by, "Yeah, look ..." or "Well, look ..." As in, "Yeah, look, I'm not going to be able to watch your cat after all," "Well, look, it's just that I've just bought a small saltwater crocodile" or "Look, did your cat use to have a tail?"