Why do teens say "like" all of the time?
 

My kids are 9 and 13 and try as hard as I might, I keep hearing them say "like" all of the time when they're talking to their friends. Why do "tweens and teens" use the word "like" for every other word? It's like driving me out of my mind and I like am trying to figure it out!

Because, like every generation, they have found something to drive their parents (and other adults) nuts.

Like what do Youuuuuu mean daddyO......

I heard a linquist discuss this a while back. Seems the use of "like" is filling a unique niche in our language:
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/gen/sep02/71334.asp?format=print

Lee,

You're like the greatest...

It's like.... ughhh, how we used to like...... say ughhhh, like lighten up man! Like chill..... ughhhhh.... what was ..... like the question again? Are we being.... like graded... like on the curve on this?


Wow, man like if I had like known that, I like would have like studied man.....

Maybe we could do a poll/survey on g9girl.com.

Omigod, like, totally!

I'm just glad that Beavis & Butthead laugh didn't last long. That really bugged me... along with "WHATEVER!"

And they were all, like talking about old stuff and it was like sooooooooo ugh. like really!
I think it was in 'hitchikers guide' that it was propositioned that humans need to keep their mouths moving in order to stay alive. Could be a little truth in that.

YES! The worst part about B&BH was that EVERY teenage boy could mimic them to perfection - I think they unknowingly spawned a global plague of clones.........corholio was kinda funny though.

Uhh hhu hhhu - you said long.......

ya know
 

Another highly irritating phrase that is tacked onto the end of many sentences is "ya know"...seems to be mainly the uneducated though,ya know.:confused:

I once read that you could take the most articulate, eloquent intelligent statement, phrase or sentence and by simply adding the words "and stuff" to the end of it, sound like a moron - it's true :D

The use of the word "like" as discussed above (great article, by the way, but most young people could have probably already told you that), although I do hate it when people use it instead of "says" - "she was like, yeah let's go!". I thought this was generally something only used by people younger than me (I'm 30), but I was watching an old documentary from the 60's, and noticed one person use "like" instead of "says" several times! Guess it's nothing new.

My 6 yr old says it - but I think he is searching for the right word to use.

Had an ex-girl friend who was a doctor - she said it all the time. Drove me nuts, broke up. I couldve been a stay home Dad if I was more tolerant!

I hear many girls in my grade say it a lot if they are excited about something. My English teacher last year cracked down on the "likes" and said that saying "like" all of the time originated from California Valley Girls (I'm guessing in SoCal) some time around the 60's. I haven't heard many guys say "like" all of the time. Mainly it's just the girls from my observations.

Or how about this. Your talking to a guy and he agrees with what your saying, but instead of saying he agrees he says, "huh" and shakes his head yes. Slap, slap http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/paddel.gif huh

Maybe he means "uhuh" which really means "yes"?

Haven't any of you Geezers (or youngins) heard the song 'Valley Girl' by Moon Zappa (Frank Zappas daughter)? Came out in the mid 80s.

"Like totally"

Completely a 1970s/1980s valley girl term (er...Simi valley if my california geography is serving me right...)

A great sci-fi comedy re: valley girls: "Night of the Comet".

How about the 'no...yeah' phrase. Seems to occur a lot when interviewing sports people over here.
"So you had a pretty big game tonight"
"Noyeah it was a good return to the game for me blah blah"

Even better if you say nayeah.

No, it seems to be a common thing among low life gang members that I run across.

I have a daughter who is a 17 year old drama queen. She is always saying "Oh My God". Now my 2 year old son has picked it up & it doesn't sound so good coming from him all the time. I asked my daughter to refrain from using the phrase, but she can't seem to control the urge.

A little while back I was driving with my son in my truck when someone cut me off & I yelled "F*ckin Retard*. My son mimicked me for the next 45 minutes. I prayed he would forget it before his mom got home, thank God he did.

My son has picked up the phrase "let me think about it..." almost anytime we ask him a question or want to have him do something.

I think he got that from me refering to his various requests.

Hahaha - that is F@cking funny Paul. Nicely done :) My 8 year old son still struggles with verbal dialog (my daughter mastered it at 4) and uses "like" alot. Their favorite combo is "butt ugly".

18 Month old yells out "Dude!" a lot he got it from the 12 year old. I die laughing when he says it.


I get frustrated listening to Rap Stars. "Know what I'm sayin" at the end of every sentance and sometimes thrown in the middle for good measure. My Bro-in-law is a want to be Rapper and turns it on for local Radio interviews. It makes him sound like an idiot. But he thinks he sounds cool.

Jim.

It's been my experience that ALL BROTHER in LAWS sound like....... an idiot.

While were like on the subject, what's with "No Problem" instead of "Your Welcome" or "Thank You". If like as if there could have been a problem.

The "no problem" seems to transcend language.

In Spanish: Say "Gracias" and the response is generally "por nada" (it is nothing)

Actually, I'm, pretty sure it's "de nada", but same point.

I heard it was actually a form of a speech impediment. I saw a thing on TV that talked about rap lingo. Someone asked why rappers always say "know what I'm saying" after every sentence. The Speech pathologist said it gave them time to think about what they were going to say next. Its a way to make up for a slower thought process when articulating words.

I assume "like" is a version of that.

Good point, Terry. I often hear "f*ckin'" used as a pause in a sentence, too. For example, "So there I was, carryin' my uh, my f*ckin', cigarette, ya know? And this f*ckin' Bremelo is like, f*ckin', dude, what's up? And I'm all, f*ckin', you know, ..."

"Like" can fill the same kind of pause, creating a brief delay.

It is "por nada", at least here in Tucson (where spanish is a second language)

The pause thing is plausable. I find myself actually pausing during conversations....to make a point....to keep attention........or just to gaze down some womens blouse........then wonder why my cheek hurts from her slap...............

Re: ya know
 

I'm guilty of that sin billyboy. Drives my wife batty, I gotta work on that... Damn bad habits... They're, like, sooo annoying, you know?

BECAUSE we live in a virtual world ;-)

things are not real anymore , they are "like" something.

hehehe

ya know?
 

Sorry about that, Chris, I like, totaly meant no personal slight to anyone with that "uneducated "remark.By all the other things that I have seen you write, I doubt that you fall into that catagory anyhow. BTW, I don't consider formal schoolin' to be the only acceptable form of education, in fact more than a few idiots have many clusters of letters after their names!http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/pint1.gif

Nothing better than the F word, if you ask me...Anypoodle--back on topic, my 7 and 9 year olds are "reminded" every time they use the word "like", unless it's in a fu@king simile. My 9 year old loves to finish a sentence with AH! Example: Dad, can we get a donutAH! Erik, you can't play with my guitarAH! It's so fu@king annoyingAH!

=Bufugly!
Like totally dude! Sweet!:p
"Like" seems to be slang for those unable to make direct statements. Vs expletives which attempt to add emphasis, but due to repetition can lose value (That f** sounds f*** pompous etc).