# Do other languages have the equivalent of abusing "like" in every sentence? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 13, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336 "2009-05-13T20:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/21 "2009-05-14T03:04:55Z")
In Panama I hear _o sea_ a lot. It means more or less “in other words” or “I mean.” As has been mentioned, _este_ and _pues_ are used too. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/22 "2009-05-14T07:00:37Z")
One of the filler words in Norwegian is _altså_, which at one point got modified in youth speech to _esse._ These days you’ll only hear the latter used sarcastically, but _altså_ is still going strong. I hear a lot of _liksom_, _som_, _skjønner du_ (“you understand”), and just plain _og_ (“and”), too. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/23 "2009-05-14T07:03:58Z")
> [@Casserole](#): > > Can this thread be a pitting too? Pretty please? 🙂 > > Jay Leno had a 10 year-old guest on his show on May 5th… Alec Greven. Apparently, this kid’s written a book on how to talk to girls, even though he hasn’t had a girlfriend. > > I suppose that passes for success? > > In any case, this kid wouldn’t stop using “like” in his speech! > > “Mom’s want you to clean rooms, so she’s like ‘clean your room’, and you’re like ‘I don’t want to’, and she’s like ‘I’m going to take away your dessert’, and that’s when you’re like ‘okay fine’, and that’s when she’s like ‘okay, that’s good’, like. like. like.” > > _ice pick in eye_ > > There’s a youtube of him appearing on the Ellen Degeneres show, but out of fear that I might **actually** harm myself (or the TV), I won’t bother watching it. I remember when Caroline ya-know Kennedy was that age. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/24 "2009-05-14T08:02:29Z")
> [@Martha\_Medea](#): > > Arabic has ‘ya’ani’ which has been adopted into Hebrew, and it sort of means ‘like’. IME, “_Ya’ani_” isn’t usually used as a filler in Hebrew – it’s mostly used as a Sarcasm Indicator preceding a phrase… Or as a word meaning “That is,” or “In other words,” used preceding a re-statement or an explanation of something just said. In general, I think Hebrew use of fillers is relatively lower than, e.g., English – but when used, the most common ones are _ka’ze_ (“of this kind” – pretty similar to “like”) and _ke’ilu_ (literally “as if”.) The phrase “_ka’ze, ke’ilu_” on it’s own, OTOH, means “sort of,” usually in the sense of “Yeah…, sort of. NOT!” ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/25 "2009-05-14T08:19:35Z")
The Finnish ‘like’ is ‘niinku’. Used in exactly the same way and just as annoying as the American English equivalent. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/26 "2009-05-14T08:21:50Z")
> [@Noone\_Special](#): > > IME, “_Ya’ani_” isn’t usually used as a filler in Hebrew – it’s mostly used as a Sarcasm Indicator preceding a phrase… Or as a word meaning “That is,” or “In other words,” used preceding a re-statement or an explanation of something just said. Hmmm… on reflection, the second part of what I said **is** a usage very similar to **some** usages of “like” in English… So(, like :p,) not quite as unequivocally not like “like.” ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/27 "2009-05-14T08:31:48Z")
Heheh! I transcribe for a living, so this is a subject very dear to my heart! I’ve definitely noticed with younger people, the propensity to use ‘like’ instead of ‘said’, e.g. She’s like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe you said that!’ And yes, when I’m transcribing, I have to type out all those ‘likes’ and ‘you knows’. If someone can tell me how, I could do a count of the instance of those words in a typical one hour file! ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/28 "2009-05-14T08:33:21Z")
There was an interesting interview on the BBC with a linguist (or maybe a social anthropologist) who had studied the use of _like_ in language. Her take on it was that _like_ can be used as a pure filler (similar to non-words such as um, or ah), but that like also has a specific contextual meaning, which is “_I am making a statement that I believe is true to the best of my knowledge, but that knowledge may be incomplete_” So, “My new friend has, like, three brothers” - means that as far as the speaker know, her new friend has three brothers, but isn’t absolutely sure. In the case of “I was like, ‘Oh, crap’”, there is a similar lack of specificity - the speaker may not have actually said or thought “Oh, crap”, but the _like_ indicates that the approximate sense is correct. Si ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/29 "2009-05-14T12:08:03Z")
> [@Casserole](#): > > In any case, this kid wouldn’t stop using “like” in his speech! > > “Mom’s want you to clean rooms, so she’s like ‘clean your room’, and you’re like ‘I don’t want to’, and she’s like ‘I’m going to take away your dessert’, and that’s when you’re like ‘okay fine’, and that’s when she’s like ‘okay, that’s good’, like. like. like.” While still vaguely annoying, I find replacing the verb “said” with “like” to be far far less annoying than throwing it in as verbal filler. “So I like, wanted to go to the store, but like, my mom said I couldn’t go, and it was like, so annoying.” At least when replacing words it can be used as slang. Compare it with some other slang thrown in: “So I wanted to go to the store, but my mom’s like ‘You can’t go,’ so I was all, ‘Ma, why not,’ and she goes, ‘You have too much homework.’” Re Japanese fillers, they also use “sa,” to which I haven’t really discerned a meaning other than a verbal filler. “Ano sa, dansei ga tanjobi pati ni kite, demo sa, kare wa omiyage o mottenakatta.” (So uh, this guy came to the birthday party, but uh, he didn’t bring a present.) Sorry, I’m sure some of my particles (and possibly other grammar) is off. Learning through books and listening to native speakers isn’t the best way to learn proper grammar. But it’s the right idea. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/30 "2009-05-14T12:49:50Z")
> [@Tenebras](#): > > All the Bulgarians I know think _dobre_ and _aide_ are commas: stuff you sort of throw down into a sentence and hope it fits. 🙂 They mean “good/ok” and “come”, respectively. I don’t know if this is an ex-pat thing or if it’s very common. **Kyla** would know better than I. Bulgarians do say both of these words a lot, but I wouldn’t call them filler words precisely. (BTW, it’s actually “haide”, but I know why you wouldn’t realize that. When I asked my Bulgarian teacher what it meant because I kept hearing it EVERYWHERE and couldn’t find it in the dictionary, I asked her “what does the word ‘ayd’ mean?” It’s actually a Turkish word and its been borrowed by, AFAIK, every country in the Balkans - and by me. I can’t seem to stop saying it, so all of my friends know what it means now.) For filler words, people say “ami”, which is akin to “well”, and “znachi”, which means “means”. One of my (Bulgarian) Peace Corps people would use “well” whenever she would have used “ami” in Bulgarian when she was speaking English, which sounded pretty funny: “Well, you have to well, speak slowly because the kids well, need to learn well, proper pronunciation.” ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/31 "2009-05-14T13:12:15Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > For the last part (“I was all, like, ‘Oh, crap!’”), is it still a filler word? Isn’t the phrase “I was like” being used as an equivalent to “I said”? I don’t think so. It seems to me that when people use the "I was all like. . . " phrase they’re talking about their feelings or thoughts. Maybe its a method of paraphrasing feelings and thoughts. I’ve had a few girlfriends that would tell me a story and use the ". . . and I was all like, ‘get outta here’. . . " line. When you asked them “you said that?” they said, “oh, no. I didn’t SAY that.” But, yeah, I guess it’s not exactly filler in that instance. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/32 "2009-05-14T13:23:49Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I noticed a lot of “¿Viste?” and “¿Que te parece?” filler words and phrases. After every pause, ¿viste?, they seem to fill in the silence, ¿que te parece? Yup, those are filler words too, but they are not so annoying, the “tipo” thing is used mostly by upper middle-class twits and pronounced with an extreme pretentious accent, somethink like “tiiipooo”. I once had to travel for about an hour with a girl in a car, she was talking in her cell phone from start to finish and must have used “tipo” at least 3 times every five seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/33 "2009-05-14T13:58:20Z")
The Dutch can use “toch” (lit. “nevertheless”) to distraction at times, using it in ways that robs it of any meaning so it becomes either a filler or a slight amplifier. “Dat wist ik toch niet” (I didn’t know that" ) But it’s used differently - “like” is often followed by a small pause, like a placeholder. “Toch” typically isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/34 "2009-05-14T14:11:26Z")
I never realised, like, that there were so many ways, like, to fit ‘like’ into a conversation, like, and ya know, like “Damn!” like, well what more can I say, like? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/35 "2009-05-14T14:28:37Z")
> [@Martha\_Medea](#): > > Is it ‘es de’? I may be wrong but I always thought it was ‘este’. Other filler words in Spanish are ‘pues’ (Central America) and ‘dizque’ (Dominican Republic). It is “este”, often said with a long last “e” to fill all the blank “esteeeeee”. “dizque” is also used in the rest of Central America and its close relative “y que” is also common. And I am under the impression that “pues” is more Andean than Central American. “O sea” is also extremely common in Venezuela and I think I have also heard it a lot from Spaniards. Also “ves?” (you see?), “verdad?” (right?) and “ok” which gets double bad points for being not only a “muletilla” (a crutch word, which is what they often call filler words in Spanish) but also an Anglicism. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/36 "2009-05-14T14:38:11Z")
Some of my German roomates used “halt” all the time, especially those from the former East Germany. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/37 "2009-05-14T16:46:27Z")
I’ve enjoyed seeing all the Latin American regional variants. Am I the only one who hears a fair degree of “pero . . .” in Spanish and even Spanglish? Is this associated with any particular region/population? On the Japanese, I’d add that sometimes when I hear someone thinking out loud, sort of stringing thoughts together, as well as “ne” I may hear a handful of “so des”'s thrown in there. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/38 "2009-05-14T17:06:49Z")
In Swedish “like” as a filler word would translate to _liksom_, while another would be _alltså_. Not exactly a filler word, but in Sweden young people has for decades been using the odd _bá_ word, which always has had annoyed elder people, because the is no such word. It is used instead of _said_ or _did_, and such, and is actually a very practical word, when looked at more closely. When a teenager tell about something that happened, it usually sounds something like this. > [@](#): > > And she ba, went like this! > And I ba: “What are you doing?!” > And she ba: “Shit ba!” > And then her brother came, and he ba, “what the fuck is going on?” > And I ba: “Get outta of here!” > And then, ba, he ba, left! > Can you believe it?! This is actually how often the word is used while telling something. When Swedes turn about 20 years old, they suddenly stop using this expression, but generation after generation of teenagers can’t live without it. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/39 "2009-05-14T18:11:35Z")
One of my Japanese friends when I was living in Tokyo used さあ (_saa_) a lot, to the point that on at least one occasion I remember other people in the group poking fun at her by using it every other word, much in the same way an American might mock a friend who they think over-uses “like.” One that I think is less common now but was big a few years ago is ending sentences or phrases with じゃん (_jan_), a contraction of じゃない (_ja nai_), which more or less translates to “isn’t it.” I’d say the American equivalent would be “y’know.” If anybody has ever heard the second \*Trigun \*soundtrack, there’s a dialogue track called “West Slang” where the accents of the main characters are swapped. Wolfwood, who normally speaks like someone from Osaka, takes on an exaggerated Tokyo accent, complete with tons of _jan_. It’s absolutely hilarious if you can understand enough Japanese to get the jist. ひど過ぎる … じゃん! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336/40 "2009-05-14T18:32:45Z")
Some French use “tu vois” (lit. “you see” but used more as “you know”), others “parait que” (lit. “seems that” used as either “I’ve heard” or “they say”). Usually accompanied by cutting/swallowing parts of the phrase : J’suis révéillée tard tu vois donc j’ai pas pu aller au magasin tu vois. Parait que le Wii c’est super, parait que tu tranpires tu vois. There’s another on which one of my bosses uses to the Nth degree, he’s Tunisian but in France for years … I once counted him say “Je veux dire” (lit. “I want to say” / “I mean”) over forty times in a single minute (why yes our meetings are riveting, why do you ask?). I once had a student whose reflex to punctuate with “donc” (lit.“so” / “thus”) was so strong it passed over into her English “I’m a manager donc of a team who calculate donc the number of minutes used donc by other networks …” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-the-equivalent-of-abusing-like-in-every-sentence/496336.md?page=3)