Like Like Like

It's simply a marker, a placeholder that some people in some registers/age groups use. Every speaker of every language uses these hesitation markers.

Have a umm, peek at this:

Hesitation in speech can ... um ... help a listener understand

http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/martinc/offprints/cs03.pdf

I talk like that LOL Im like "Hey Dude, so?"

Also helps the speakers mind catch up with the mouth (ref teenage girls)

Well ya know like it's almost like if like maybe like there was like ya know like a like sort of like a situation like on one side like and then like ya know like another maybe like situation like ya know which is ya know like similar like but like not the same like. Like ya know like what I mean like?


Try teaching students for several years who 'like ya know like' talk this way all the frigging time.

When speaking I avoid using the work like, using instead something with meaning, i.e. it seemed as if, so then I said, etc.

However, I'll admit, I find myself using the word like on this forum, as when I type the above phrases it seems too formal.

each time I do that though I think to myself, Lord, I'm a 46 year old! Then, I realize people were using the phrase like back when I was a teenager.

What bothers me are posters who combine using like and run on senstences that go on for days.

As you can see, I'm big into putting empty lines in my posts, separating thoughts, creating drama, preparing someone for a punch line, etc.

The combination of like and long, spaceless writing makes the poster look like an idiot, in my opinion.

Like, you know?

How about the phrase "you know what I'm sayin?"

The phrase used it seems by so many rappers, or hip hoppers.
I feel like responding "Acutally, no, I don't know what you're saying"

Hey, Carbon System. Slang and colloquialisms make a language interesting. There are two types of usage: Formal and informal. Under informal there are all types of subsets. The problem lies, I think, in over usage of any language cliches. The best way to write, is to vary, according to one's audience.

I think it only gets on my nerves when it is overused. If it's not overused then I don't even notice most of the time, sometimes i even use them myself. But I really can't stand that stereotypical high school girl way of talking.

its a common stammer in speech... you know i was like..... just standing there and like this guy... like comes upto me and is like.... used in speech when people have to think, it just comes out..

Mifmaster, weren't you the guy just complaining about the corruption of the English Language???????
I can barely stand listening to teens talking in that fashion let alone women in there 30's. I'm sick of chirpy motivational speakers talking like Valley Girls and asking over and over, are you guys understanding this! How are you guys today, Good?

On Saturday, the Non-Profit I belong to had a off-site or retreat to brainstorm ways to kick off our new Capital Campaign. The first speaker was great, the second speaker was a PhD in her late 30's who had a pitch that would probably work well with a bunch of 18 year old college students. But the Board Members of this non-profit range from about 36 to 80. Business owners, lawyers, accountants, fairly bright people from all walks of life.

When she first started her bit, she passed out a plain blue paper and proceeded to coach us to doodle various things, sometimes on the right side of the page.....then another symbol of our choosing on the left side. We were instructed to draw a cloud between the two scribblings and at that point the man next to me said "What the hell is she doing", my response was "Shoot me now". This went on for a while until it became obvious that not a soul in the room was following her lead. People just put their pens down and looked irritated. Turns out, her presentation was supposed to be about means of communicating. We didn't know what she was doing, could barely understand her high pitched quasi-valley-upspeak. It took about 30 minutes but she finally realized we were communicating something to her and she wrapped it up.

I felt a slight twing for her, but she really didn't prepare for her audience. And for the life of me I don't understand why people who want to make a living by giving lectures to business, government and non-profit organizations, don't take the time to improve their speaking voice and drop the verbal props. They should be as professional as the audience they are trying to reach. I wish I had a scanner, you wouldn't believe what was on my blue paper.

well the majority of 'likes' used is from stammering or randomly thrown in for he absolute sake of it... yes i know but it has fully established itself as an overused word and unnessarilly so... (i need to learn how to spell)

Does anyone else see the irony in MilfMaster's post? I'm only joking with ya MilfMaster, but bad spelling in an English forum is hilarious.

well thats what my (i dont know how to spell) comes in... i know but i never learned my spellings when i was younger...

Milf, what part of Ireland are you from? Like, Northern Ireland?

no like, the south, near like dublin actually... here like is only used by young teenage girls... roysh and eh are the other most common overused sounds or words...

like Langer? LOL

langer is a classic.. replaced by todga now... (british influence)

geez will have to brush up on my slang before I go back
in April

Europeans...

ya all wish...