That expression I’m comma like comma that we constantly hear now didn’t exist until a few decades ago. (Does it exist now, in other English-speaking countries?) Didn’t it get started as part of Valley Girl lingo? No, I don’t remember what the Valley Girl concept was (San Fernando Valley, wasn’t it?). The rest of it, aside from “I’m, like,” seems to have evaporated, but somehow “I’m, like,” has taken over the world.
It definitely predates the Valley Girls since I remember it in use long before that.
Poking around on Google it’s much older than I remember. Apparently it started with the Beatniks in the 1950s. It grew in popularity in the 1970s (which is when I remember hearing it) and grew again in popularity in the 1980s with Valley Girl speak.
Odd usage of “like” at the end of a sentence is even older.
“He is really tall, like,” dates to the 1500s (according to one cite) or the 1700s (according to a different cite).
“He is, like, really tall,” dates to the 1950s.
Yes, it was the San Fernando Valley.
Back in the 1980s, my cousin lived a block or two away from the Galleria Mall in Los Angeles (featured in several movies from the 80s). We walked over to the Mall one day while I was visiting, and while most of the people there spoke normally, we did encounter some girls speaking Valley Girl speak to each other. So it wasn’t just a movie or Frank Zappa thing. Valley Girl speak did exist in real life and was common enough in that part of the world that you could easily encounter it in the wild..
I strongly question the OP’s contention that we constantly hear it now.
I’ll immediately admit there might well be regional variation in how common it is in 2026. But in my area (SoFL) and peer group (well-educated well-off retirees) it’s very, very rare. Even though our generation was in HS or college when the “Valley Girl” phenomenon was at its peak.
I wonder where the OP is hearing this, and from whom?
Agreed. I remember stereotypical 60’s TV beatniks played bongos, snapped their fingers rhythmically, said “cool, cool”, and “like.” Real life beats reportedly called marijuana “tea” or “boo.” And I distinctly remember being aware of how one of my friends (Steve G__) overused/misused the word “like” when we were in 7th grade. In 1963. San Diego.
I hear it all the time whenever a group of girls in their teens or twenties are talking to each other. Chicago area.
From a 60s-era Mad Magazine:
HIPPIE #1: “Man, I hear there’s a kind of salmon that can get you high! Ever, like, smoked salmon?”
HIPPIE #2: “Nah, but I once dug pickled lox!”
Not just girls, but the guys, too. The “like” thing was borrowed from hippies who stole it from the beatniks. Counterculture speak had longer legs in California than the rest of the country.
Thank you. Tomorrow being Saturday I think a field trip to my local mall / maawwwllll is in order. I know the place is loaded with HS & college-aged women (& men) then.
I don’t know if anyone still says “gag me” or “I’m so sure”, but there are plenty of folks- mostly female and not necessarily teens- who do the upspeak thing, and that is a big part of valley girl talk, imo.
The stereotypical beatnik was snapping his fingers and saying “like” all the time. Don’t think he said “I’m, like, having a great time …” and suchlike.
Maybe that should have been my original question. The change to “I’m, like, crazy about him” instead of just “I’m crazy about him.”
When I read the topic, I thought OP meant the substitution of “I’m like . . .” for “I said . . .” IME that began to happen somewhere in the mid eighties and spread like wildfire. I’d say it’s common usage now, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it in a corporate setting. I hate it, but it’s common.
We are approaching the same level of usage with “I’ll do . . .” instead of “I’ll have . . .” or “I’d like . . .” when ordering at a restaurant. This one particularly grates on my nerves, because it makes food sound like a drug. It follows the same verb shift as “Doing ecstasy” instead of “Dropping ecstasy.”
But “like” as a substitute for “ummm” or any other verbal filler bothers me less. Fillers in general exist to be ignored.
I thought that’s what the OP meant, too, and has an intrusive comma. If that’s the case, yeah, I think Val-Speak popularized it, regardless of its origin.
Sergeant Pepper was, like, far out man.
Well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
Around that same time (It may have been that same article) there was a book for sale on ‘Hippie/Beatnik’ grammar. One rule was to start every sentence with “Like, man…”
I think “ya know” was as prevalent as “like” in 1963, serving as a superfluous comma.