And, like, she was, like. . .

[MichelleCarmen]

The word "like" said contantly in sentences is turning into the BIGGEST petpeeve of mine EVER! It is the downfall of the english language.

I just had to post this because we went to a family reuninion of sorts last weekend and I cannot get over the fact that one of the wives there (in her mid-twenties) said "like" SO MUCH that I couldn''t understand what she was saying. Her sentences were literally strung with so many "likes" that I ignored her the rest of the day!

My husband wants to invent a buzzer that zaps a person whenever ever they, like, say "like!"

 

[icekid]

Hahaha... I am with you and your hubby, MC! Totally drives me nutso too. It''s especially terrible with the teens these days, from what I have seen. It makes the person using "like" as every other word sound so far from intelligent too. I have a colleague whom I know to be a bright young doctor, but she has this affliction and it makes her sound like she has no clue. My 17 year-old sister says it far too much also, and she knows it makes her sound less than bright. She is working on it, but it seems to be a tough habit to break when all of your friends have the same problem.

 

[FrekeChild]

Lol MC. There was a girl in my class who is like that.

Imagine this: "Well, like, I thought that, like, Marx was totally off base when he, like, said that the proletariat would like, overthrow the bourgeoisie."

WHAT?!

Luckily she stopped coming after the third day. I think our instructor was, like, delighted.

 

[WishfulThinking]

Oh man, I couldn't agree more. I'm fairly young [almost 21], so I definitely grew up as a teen thinking that injecting "like" into every sentence 10.5 billion times was the "cool" thing to do.

I had to work SO hard to cut that word out of my vocabulary, but I am so glad I did. I go to a top-ranked college and am an otherwise intelligent individual who enjoys discussing intellectual things... no need for me to sound like a parody of "Not Another Teen Movie." Ew.

I have found, though, that since spending a lot of time taking this word out of my vocabulary, I've become much more cognizant of the things that I say and how they make me sound to others. It's prompted me to stop using some words that are used quite commonly that are actually pretty offensive when one stops to think about what they really mean. I am not about being "overly PC" [I hate that term], but I do believe in respecting others around me by not using words or phrases that could be seen as insulting.

 

[Linda W]

LOL MC. A few weeks ago, DH and I went out to eat. There was a girl, also in her 20''s doing the same thing. We amused ourselves counting how many times she said "like".

 

[Harriet]

In a gravelly voice: I, like, totally hate it. I, like, wanna tell her whatev.

P.S. Whenever we run into packs of those women, I remind the other half that he'd be dating one of them if it weren't for me.

 

[allikatac]

I totally like know what you mean..

This drives me crazy. I can only focus on the work "like" when people talk that way and eventually end up tuning them out as well. My sister use to do this and every night at dinner my dad would say "beep" everytime she said it so eventually she broke the habit. Thank goodness!

I work with a lady who ends at least every other sentence in "you know what I mean". I just want to scream when she does this. I have even started to jokefully "beep" her when she does it in hopes that she takes a hint and at least tries to monitor what comes out.

 

[Linda W]

LOL. My aunt ends every sentence with "and everything like that". It drives everyone crazy.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I find that "like" often replaces "said". As in "So Bridget was like 'What did you say?' and Tom was like 'I said your thong is sticking out of the top of your pants' and Bridget was like 'Oh, yeah, I wear my underwear like that' and Tom was like 'How uncomfortable'."

Even when it's not used in between words, it's still annoying.

We have a program in our company where we let high school kids come in and work with us for two weeks--it's basically a mini-internship for non-college students. They are often embarrassed about how natural it is for them to use "like" when speaking in public...it's a great exercise because it forces kids to scrutinize their language skills.

I would add that texting is the downfall of the English language, haha. I often find that writing skills are lacking even more than speaking skills!

ETA: to eliminate one "like"

 

[HollyS]

Hehehehe! Buzzer zapper! Love it; where can I buy?

 

[2Artists]

Oh no guilty as charged. I do say it every once and a while. Life long coastal Californian can''t help it. Must say like a couple times a day. Not much but still. Oh the shame. I bet I have even said it here and likely will again in the future. And heaven knows my spelling and grammar is ummmm creative. Sorry all.

female half 2Artists

 

[Mara]

hah!! as a native californian, guilty as well. it's so ingrained from years of use, you can't shake it. and poor greg who used to hate it, catches himself saying it too. even in the business world people say it here though thankfully somehow you can turn it off for important meetings hahaa. crazy! i find now that i am older, i only mostly say it when i am telling a story. exactly how you phrased it MC!

 

[Miranda]

haha - don''t come to CA!

That''s like how we like talk here...dude.

I think "um" bothers me more than "like". It seems to be a substitute for like.

 

[Shay37]

Try being a court reporter who has to not only listen but also write it down. I had one deponent who said "like" so much, I could not understand her answers because it just lost all context. I kept getting lost as I was listening. I thought it was me. However, when I went back to transcribe the depo, it didn''t help. I still couldn''t figure out most of it when I was reading it. Punctuating it was an absolute nightmare!!!!

shay

 

[Linda W]

Date: 6/27/2008 9:24:54 PM
Author: Miranda
haha - don''t come to CA!

That''s like how we like talk here...dude.


I think ''um'' bothers me more than ''like''. It seems to be a substitute for like.

LOL, a good friend of mine says "um" all the time. That bothers me too. Hummm, now I have to think what I say. tee hee.

 

[FrekeChild]

I had a lecturer last semester who said "um" every 5 words. This got up to about 10 per powerpoint slide. With 80 slides per class, that''s a lot of "um"s. I got so distracted with it I started counting ums instead of listening to lecture. It was AWFUL. I felt sorry for her, she had NO IDEA she was doing it.

 

[Linda W]

LOL Freke, I count them too, sometimes when she is disciplining her grandchildren.

 

[zoebartlett]

I''m guilty of this, but not as bad as the stereo-typical Valley girl. I use it in place of "said" A LOT. It''s so hard not to. I''m in my mid-30s, so I really should stop. I''m from the northeast, by the way, so it''s definitely not just a CA thing.

 

[Haven]

I used to use "like" as a filler word instead of "um".
And then my parents started charging me one dollar per gratuitous "like".

That helped me shape up pretty quickly.

I have a friend from California that says "he was all" and "she was all" instead of "he was like". Is that a California thing in general, or is that just particular to my friend?

I wish my students could no longer utter the words "whatever" and "nothing". Then perhaps they would have to actually share INFORMATION instead of utterances. Oh, and I''d appreciate it if I could nix the phrase "I dunno" as well. Or shall I say "IDK" as they write it in text language.

 

[phoenixgirl]

I actually taught a lesson on saying like to my tenth graders. We determined that like was used in several ways: as a filler along the lines of "um," to lessen the impact of what you are saying, and to introduce quotes.

In the first case (as a filler), "like" is really annoying and should be avoided.

In the second (as a diminutive) case, it should probably be avoided, but it''s much more difficult to reword your thoughts on the fly if you are trying to avoid saying it. An example is, "Her getting the promotion instead of me would, like, break my heart." It wouldn''t really break your heart, or if it would, you wouldn''t want to admit it. You said "like" to give yourself some emotional distance from the feelings you are describing.

In the third (introducing quotes) case, like has taken on a meaning of its own. "I was like" means "I probably didn''t really say the following but this is how I felt." Example: He asked me to forgive him for cheating on me, and I was like, "Are you kidding me?" "I was like" tells how you felt or what you thought, not what you said.

We talked about how the students would be judged by older folks and needed to work on saying "like" less in certain situations, but I thought it was important for them to have an understanding of how "like" has taken on meaning that is difficult to express without using it.

We also learned about email etiquette. I can''t tell you how many times I get emails like (ahem, excuse me, such as) this:

yeah hi so what was the homework i was out sick. thanks.

And it''s unsigned and sent from some account like bsblguy91 at whatever.com. After my lesson, they were much better about using capital letters, writing in complete sentences, and signing their names.

Even my student teacher, a college graduate, sent me emails like that! I do take my job as an English teacher seriously and realize that as much as I need to teach them the difference between a comma and a semicolon, I also need to teach them how to communicate respectfully despite what they''ve learned from text-messaging.

 

[ladypirate]

Date: 6/28/2008 3:21:26 AM
Author: Haven
I used to use 'like' as a filler word instead of 'um'.

And then my parents started charging me one dollar per gratuitous 'like'.


That helped me shape up pretty quickly.


I have a friend from California that says 'he was all' and 'she was all' instead of 'he was like'. Is that a California thing in general, or is that just particular to my friend?


I wish my students could no longer utter the words 'whatever' and 'nothing'. Then perhaps they would have to actually share INFORMATION instead of utterances. Oh, and I'd appreciate it if I could nix the phrase 'I dunno' as well. Or shall I say 'IDK' as they write it in text language.

It's not just your friend--that's also a pretty common thing in CA. My favorite is William Shatner/Henry Rollins' diatribe on it:

"My kids say: He said to me, and I'm like... and he's like... and she's like...It's all... He's all... She's all...I can't get behind that kind of like, English!"

ETA: I agree on the texting thing--it drives me nuts when people write like that.

 

[KimberlyH]

I grew up near and in the Valley, a bit post-Valley girl time, and I too am guilty. My 7th grade English teacher would send us out of the classroom if we said "like" out of context while speaking in her class. It broke the habit for some, but not me. I typically only use it in casual conversation, when telling a story as someone else mentioned, but it''s a hard habit to break (and I have a B.A. in English).

 

[VRBeauty]

Date: 6/28/2008 9:19:22 AM
Author: phoenixgirl
I actually taught a lesson on saying like to my tenth graders. We determined that like was used in several ways: as a filler along the lines of ''um,'' to lessen the impact of what you are saying, and to introduce quotes.

Even my student teacher, a college graduate, sent me emails like that! I do take my job as an English teacher seriously and realize that as much as I need to teach them the difference between a comma and a semicolon, I also need to teach them how to communicate respectfully despite what they''ve learned from text-messaging.

Phoenix: I am so impressed (!)) at the way you got your students to become aware of this habit, and in the process given them a good tool for changing their own behavior, at least some of the time. I suspect that understanding why they use "like" so often is a more effective deterrent than nagging and dire predictions from parents and teachers. Kudos to you!

Yesterday I had lunch in a nearby university town, and two students on the were carrying on a loud, like-filled conversation. It took, like, herculean effort not to turn around and tell them how annoying it was.

But... where I work we hire a lot of students to help with data entry etc, especially in the summer. It seems like they are able to curb the practice when they''re interacting with the professional employees, so I''m guessing that some of that parental nagging does get through to them.

 

[jewelerman]

I SO TOTALLY LIKE HATE THAT TOO!My pet language peeve...these ones...example...customer looking at earrings..."can i see these ones?" my answer..."i would be happy to show you that pair of earrings."

 

[FrekeChild]

Date: 6/28/2008 2:13:48 PM
Author: jewelerman
I SO TOTALLY LIKE HATE THAT TOO!My pet language peeve...these ones...example...customer looking at earrings...''can i see these ones?'' my answer...''i would be happy to show you that pair of earrings.''

BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER!!!!

It''s ''these'' or ''those'' dangit.

 

[jewelerman]

I like totally knew that someone would agree with me!Another peeve...fur...example...I want to do this for (FUR)you. drives me crazy when people use lazy language.