Why do people like stick the word 'like' into like everything they like say?

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Using the word "like" in sentences as a pause marks you as immature or a teeny bopper in my book. It's like thumb sucking - by the time you are 30 you should be over it.

What do you do when you can't think of a word in a conversation? Do you silently freeze? Do you put your finger up as if to say, "One sec"? Do you leave the room? Do you say, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"?

There's nothing wrong with using conversation placeholders to hold a turn in a diad.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

What do you do when you can't think of a word in a conversation? Do you silently freeze? Do you put your finger up as if to say, "One sec"? Do you leave the room? Do you say, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"?

There's nothing wrong with using conversation placeholders to hold a turn in a diad.

Wuzzat, recster?

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Wuzzat, recster?

A succesful conversation needs turns. Protocols are usually devised by the participants, including something that indicates the end of a turn. This is usually silence, so it's not surprising that participants use audible placeholders, such as the word like, to indicate that their turn isn't over.

 

[earllogjam]

What do you do when you can't think of a word in a conversation? Do you silently freeze? Do you put your finger up as if to say, "One sec"? Do you leave the room? Do you say, "Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm"?

There's nothing wrong with using conversation placeholders to hold a turn in a diad.

Using "Uh" or "Ummmm" in and of themselves have no meaning and are meant to be hesitation devices in speech. The word "like" has a clear and distinct understanding - meaning similar to or resembling.

Using it as a hesitation device is using the word incorrectly. "Oh, Cyndi went to the like mall and like bought like a bitchin outfit." which means "Oh, Cyndi went to somewhere similar to a mall and did something similar to buying an outfit which resembles a bitchin one."

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

Using "Uh" or "Ummmm" in and of themselves have no meaning and are meant to be hesitation devices in speech. The word "like" has a clear and distinct understanding - meaning similar to or resembling.

Using it as a hesitation device is using the word incorrectly. "Oh, Cyndi went to the like mall and like bought like a bitchin outfit." which means "Oh, Cyndi went to somewhere similar to a mall and did something similar to buying an outfit which resembles a bitchin one."[/quote]

Sure, in (like) 1970. Today those bolded sentences are colloqually synonymous. Language can only improve with change. Prescriptivism like your's hinders that change.

Or is it enboldened?

 

[Calboner]

Using "Uh" or "Ummmm" in and of themselves have no meaning and are meant to be hesitation devices in speech. The word "like" has a clear and distinct understanding - meaning similar to or resembling.

That is exactly the relevant point. If you need to make a meaningless noise, make a meaningless noise: do not degrade meaningful words by treating them as meaningless noises.

There are uses of the word "like" that do not belong in formal prose but make perfect sense in colloquial contexts, such as the use of "like" with the sense of "approximately." Someone might say, "They gave him like fifty dollars," meaning thereby to indicate that he doesn't know the exact amount of money -- i.e., "They gave him something like fifty dollars." But people who throw the word "like" around meaninglessly will say the very same thing when they mean that the person in question got, not approximately fifty dollars, but exactly fifty dollars. So now when someone utters a sentence like that one, the listener has no way of knowing whether the speaker is using the word "like" to indicate an approximate figure or using it to mean nothing whatever.

To strew "like" about meaninglessly does not merely cast a fog of vagueness over one's own utterances but reduces the possibility of precision in speech.

 

[Rubber_JonnyN]

Is it a sign of low intelligence?

Nooooooo!

I say it a lot in real life because of my accent (Geordie).

 

[earllogjam]

Sure, in (like) 1970. Today those bolded sentences are colloqually synonymous. Language can only improve with change. Prescriptivism like your's hinders that change.

Or is it enboldened?

OK, let''s throw out all the rules of the English language. Hey, change is good, right? Who needs rules? Especially when it comes to standardized communication.

Me go school you not go talkie b'school we ok ok??.

 

[Rubber_JonnyN]

OK, let''s throw out all the rules of the English language. Hey, change is good, right? Who needs rules? Especially when it comes to standardized communication.

Me go school you not go talkie b'school we ok ok??.

Well the language of today is changing.
wel da lingo ov 2day is changin init

see. ;>
c. ;>

 

[bartonside]

Why is the English language populated with the word "the" ?

Because 'the' is the definite article, as opposed to 'a', the indefinite article. It's not a figure of speech or a conversation placeholder but an intrinsic element of English grammar.

I find the indiscriminate use of 'like' intensely irritating. It is not difficult to assemble a sentence which does not contain an inappropriate use of like - most people cannot be bothered. There are some of us who do try to speak in well-formed sentences but I am afraid we are in a minority.

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Our language is constantly evolving with the times. Case in point, compare anything written an Old English to anything in Modern. Or how about books written in the 1890s to books from the 1990s. "Like" is accepted as a pause in casual and informal conversation, regardless of how annoying it is and regardless of one of its other meanings.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

OK, let''s throw out all the rules of the English language. Hey, change is good, right? Who needs rules? Especially when it comes to standardized communication.

Me go school you not go talkie b'school we ok ok??.

Your example was clear and simple, which proves my point. Rules are helpful, but not necessary to convey meaning. Language needs to adapt. We all want language to be simple, but we also want to be expressive. Colloquial English, as per your example, helps define one's identity.

I'm not claiming that we should disregard "standardized communication." I am claiming that it's acceptable for style to win over economy or simplicity. How many prepositions or cases do we need? How many verb forms do we need? How many suffixes, prefixes, and irregularities can children take before they begin to simplify? What combinations of sounds are easily pronounced and easily understood? Can a 19th-century grammar be used in today's fast-paced and impatient world of immediate information?

Stylistic expression also plays a role in language adaptation. Although the story is apocryphal, some say that the distinct 'th' pronunciation of Castillian Spanish was due to courtiers imitating the lisp of the king. As a result, Castillian has more character. Idioms get added to language every day. Some become more integrated, while others decay. It's all part of a necessary evolution.

Us linguists are concerned with the structure of language and the rules used to form this structure. These rules constitute a "mental grammar" that is thought to be well-defined, though not identical, in every language. These mental grammars are not the grammars we learn in school, but the unconscious process where we decide whether a sentence is well-formed. The process is independent of meaning. We both know that, "Oh, Cyndi went to somewhere similar to a mall and did something similar to buying an outfit which resembles a bitchin one." is an ill-formed English sentence, though we can easily guess it's meaning. This is because of our innate "universal grammar" that supercedes individual words.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

There's nothing wrong with using conversation placeholders to hold a turn in a diad.

But why a diad (or, as rubi prefers, dyad)?
What if, like, six peeps are, like, talkin'?

 

[deleted3782]

I have enjoyed listening to several orators who speak in measured cadences that are quite enjoyable. I'm thinking of Johnetta Cole YouTube - Dell Celebrates Black History Month w/Dr. Johnnetta B. Co who I always enjoy listening to. I would say in her speech style, she seems to pause just for a moment, before moving on to the next sentence. Sje uses a pause sometimes, in place of a "like". The result is quite powerful.

I think the use of "like" and the Kennedy's "er-em" can be used from habit, but they are also a place from which to gather your thoughts to move on to the next...um...point. It almost demarcates the, like, point or the sentence apart from, like, the rest.

 

[D_Tintagel_Demondong]

But why a diad (or, as rubi prefers, dyad)?
What if, like, six peeps are, like, talkin'?

Ooooh. I used that simply for the sake of brevety. There are often more turn rules when more people are, like, engaged in the conversation.

I have enjoyed listening to several orators who speak in measured cadences that are quite enjoyable. I'm thinking of Johnetta Cole YouTube - Dell Celebrates Black History Month w/Dr. Johnnetta B. Co who I always enjoy listening to. I would say in her speech style, she seems to pause just for a moment, before moving on to the next sentence. Sje uses a pause sometimes, in place of a "like". The result is quite powerful.

I agree, Ex. I have to add, if I may, that silence itself can change the semantic representation of language, and can add both meaning and prose.

That is exactly the relevant point. If you need to make a meaningless noise, make a meaningless noise: do not degrade meaningful words by treating them as meaningless noises.

[...]

To strew "like" about meaninglessly does not merely cast a fog of vagueness over one's own utterances but reduces the possibility of precision in speech.

"Like" becomes inherently meaningless when it's used simply as a conversation placeholder. In this case, it's one of those words that people ignore when trying to understand a sentence. Even though it may not be semantically necessary, it can still be a useful tool in a conversation, no?

 

[deleted3782]

Who said that linguistics can't be fun?!?!?!

I understand that other languages might have placeholders too. The Argentinians use "che" ...which I understand is translated as "bro"... is inserted to the amusement of other Spanish speaking nationalities.

 

[naughty]

Hey, I LIKE resemble that comment ! LOL! It is just a verbal tic akin to "You know what I mean" , "Uh" , "Yuu know what I'm sayin' " and many other priceless gems. LOL!

 

[Calboner]

If you want to see a verbal tic, watch this guy:

Bob Fleming Arse!

 

[luklakls]

Grammar is like, not a sure sign of like, intelligence.
Like some people were just like raised in a place where like, they picked up like as a like...interjection for like ever single thing they like,talk about.

 

[B_JasonDawgxxx]

OMG Like whats this thread about? Im confused.