The word “like”. A rant…
 

Our son-in-law is a software engineer with a great job with a military contractor. He’s 28. Every sentence he utters has the word “like” in it at least four times (I count them). Went to our son’s graduation from law school last week. Met several other graduates and his new girlfriend. I never heard more “likes” in my entire life.

For some reason, my kids don’t do that. But I’ve become so tuned into it that I almost don’t hear what they’re saying, but make a hobby of simply counting the “likes”. The young gal who stays with our dogs when we travel gave us the rundown on them when we got home yesterday. Must have been 20+ likes in a 5 minute chat. Didn’t hear a word she said otherwise.

Rant over.

I like a good rant :D

I " like " your rant :D

I see your "like" and raise you "So..."
In the infrequent times I view television news, this speech tic frequently presents itself. :mad:

Best
Les

Facebook effect.

Moon Unit Zappa approves this topic.

Two other common things people around here add that aren’t needed are saying “right?” after making a statement not asking a question. The other is asking “does that make sense” after giving simple instructions.

I know! Right? I mean... like... why do people do that stuff? :D

How about, “you know”?

I was reading some news online and the person they quoted must’ve said you know four times in a three sentence “.

You know what I mean…

Yep. Way overused…and by older people.

My hometown was mostly Italian, as am I. Always heard “cuz ya know” from the old folks all the time.

That one annoys me to death. Literally!

Some folks do it a lot, others don't. What seems ever crazier to me is when folks write it. We have a poster here that is supposed to be very smart, I think, an engineer, and often rudely proclaims how dumb others are and how much smarter he is. He puts like in the middle of sentences the same way folks use it in speech as being discussed in this thread.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah or
Right, right, right
As they are interrupting what you are saying so they can talk.

What about "God forbid"?

"You know, all Johnny does is sit around the house. Like, he could never think of getting a job, God forbid".

^^^
That's 'Dope' man. ::D

Like when they interview a race winner and like he starts off with "I mean, yeah, it was like really hot out there and like it was hard to see."

I think that happens a lot in cultures. I remember when I was in Guatamala in the early 70s, I found it irritating that locals started almost each sentence with "Si pues." Kind of beginning sentences with "Yes, well." I suppose you have to live long enough for those things to go out of vogue.

All the F1 drivers use Yea, constantly. Even YEA, no to start a sentence.

I think "like" replaced "um" as a way to give folks a moment to think of the next thing that they want to say.

And most folks in society want to fit in, so they mimic the other people around them that they want to fit in with. So once one person does it it spreads to others. I think some folks are VERY likely to mimic and other folks are less likely to mimic. It starts by infecting the more likely to mimic but then once enough folks are doing it, the less likely to mimic start because a much larger portion of the group that everyone wants to fit in with is now doing it.

Back in the "olden days" I was dating a chick when the Valley Girl talk started. She instantly started like that. That was my clue to end the relationship.

My 8th grade English teacher had a cure for this, but then it was for "you know". Whenever one of us had to speak extemporaneously in front of the class and inserted a "you know", everyone in the class was to immediately and loudly repeat "you know!" It stopped the "you knows" in short order.

Just like - Sit him down and let him like - watch this

<iframe width="370" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/swDbkj4eLu4" title="Whatever Podcast Girl Says &quot;Like&quot; Over 20 Times In 30 Seconds" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Forgot about that one Craigster, God forbid. Then all my aunts would cross themselves….

Like, chill out dude.

Wait until you spend more time around speakers of Mandarin! Enough so that years ago my cousin had to warn/explain this to his family (us all) when his new wife's mainland family was coming to visit. Let's just say that one of their common filler words sounded quite a bit dodgy in English.

(stolen from the webz)

"Nèige" used as a filler word:

...in English, you may say "umm" or another
filler word. In Chinese, the word for this is 那个 (nèige).
(The word 那个 can be pronounced both "nàge" and
"nèige," but for this usage, "nèige" is normally used.)

To the main topic - I think "like" is nearly unfixable. It's like (heh) breathing for so many.

I had a very annoying verbal habit of using "clearly", especially with some new engineers. One particularly aware victim started using with me in at least every other sentence. No other remarks - not even a smirk or a second glance to see if I noticed.

I noticed, and it hit hard! It had me fixed of that little issue in less than a month.

My particular hangup now is anyone responding to my side of a discussion with "Anyway, ..." I don't take it well and I've tried to give it back, as in the "clearly" example above, and typically they're so contextually deaf that it doesn't even register.

Clearly, :D you need to get everyone that you work with in on the punchline like in the school situation above. Repeat it back out-loud any time it's heard.

And yes, most folks don't see/understand what the problem is with filler words.

It works out quite well. I tracked down some internet scammers and went in and had a word with them. A girl there said "Are you a like Private Investigator?" I said "Yes."

Because I was like one, but not actually one.

This is the precise moment in time: if you matured before this moment, like is most probably seldom used outside its intended use; after, you're most likely an annoying sot. 😉

Tucker Carlson does it. Drives me up a wall. Maybe an age thing.

Nobody taught them to avoid filler words.

So is it not a clue that the person speaking isn't really paying attention to the conversation?

Some USC professor was fired (I think?) due to complains from a certain demographic about that filler word. I read that several years ago due the height of BLM BS.

Like it was used often during the 80s around here from the typical talk. Yeah, like they like really talk like that when I went to school out there for a year.

I catch myself saying "You know" more then I like if I am not paying attention

how bout' "you know what I mean,Man?"

It's quite good playing games with people.

Him "So it's like $50 for it?"

Me "No it's not like $50, it's exactly $50."

The worst IMO is "at the end of the day".
It's just another way of someone telling you they have the IQ of a raisin.

Irregardless.

I happen to like raisins ... and what I like might differ from what you like... you know? That's what matters ... at the end of the day...

There’s a certain person that posts here that actually types “like” in his posts, almost as if he is using dictation to create his posts. Please explain to me why you would take the extra step to add that to a written sentence. I’ve wondered for years and all I can come up with is he does it to emphasize his point? It triggers something malevolent inside me every time I see it


I don’t wanna get …like…banned for calling him out so let’s not try to guess who I’m talking about