Additional Information....

Another thing I forgot to mention in the initial post, was that his first noticable idiomatic trait was the phrase "You know what I'm sayin?".
He used it liberally, (no doubt a result of his "How to Sound Intelligent" training...) and continued to do so until I started responding in the middle of his sentences with "No, I have no idea what you're saying.".
I think the "ya know" portions of his auditory expressionism will have to meet the same fate.