Studies within the world Englishes paradigm have furnished detailed descriptions of numerous lexical, morphological and syntactic features. Although laudable exceptions exist, pragmatics as well as the concept of pragmatic nativisation have so far been largely neglected in world Englishes – particularly from an empirical angle. The paper investigates pauses – more specifically the choice between filled (for example, uh, uhm) and unfilled pauses (that is, silence) – in two South Asian Englishes, Indian and Sri Lankan English, in comparison to the culturally distinct British English. Central research questions include: (a) are there variety‐specific differences in the use of filled/unfilled pauses; (b) which additional factors determine the choice between filled and unfilled pauses; and (c) what implications do the results have for the notion of pragmatic nativisation?