I found myself inserting “like” into a text I was sending, not because it was necessary but because I could not imagine it without it. Here’s what I wrote:
“I played like six Boggle games in a row.”
If I wrote “I played six Boggle games in a row” it would have lacked something–something that the “like” provides.
What is that mysterious je ne sais quoi that putting “like” in gives to a sentence? I can’t put my finger on what it is. But I wrote it deliberately, not only to match how I might say it in real life, not even to help me approximate, but for another reason. Is there imagery that “like” communicates in this instance? Does it encourage bonding in some way?
ETA: My theory is that it helps define my feeling about the situation. In this case, “like” indicates my casual amusement and interest about it, but not that it is an urgent matter.
It gives the reader a better sense of your mood, in my opinion. You might say the sentence without “like” in any tone of voice at all, and so the reader won’t get much of a mood signal. With “like” in there, I say it in my head while reading it with emphasis on “six” like that’s a lot (I suppose it is) and I get your sense of how that’s unusual. I may be wrong about all the specifics of how you feel, but the sentence has a lot more life in my head with “like” in there.
Approximately, with a hint of hyperbole, and with the implication that the quantity is somehow unreasonable or regrettable. “I binged like three seasons of that show over the weekend.” “I ate like half a gallon of ice cream last night.” Etc.
Whatever it does convey, “like” in that spot does NOT convey any sense that the activity was fun or enjoyable or that you, ahem, liked doing it. Nor does it mean the opposite. That axis of meaning is simply absent.
You’re using colloquial language in your text to convey a feel of actual speech in an informal setting. When done well and in the right situation it gives a sense of personality and familiarity that reads as warmer and less stilted than formal, grammatically correct speech. I do it, like, all the time in texts and posts.
The visual image I get from “like” in the sentence is thus:
“I played like [speaker hesitates with mouth agape, fanning hands outward, rolling eyes up/right…trying desperately to calculate the incredible number of games he played] six Boggle games in a row.”
In this context, I see “like” as an intensifier of 6. I didn’t just play 2, 3, 4, or even 5 measly games of boggle—I played 6!!! I am a boggle master!
As with “like” in speech (and many another “verbal crutch”) it gets annoying if it’s used too much or seemingly without thought. It’s subjective, but that gives an unflattering personality.
I [hiccup] go even further with regard to conveying [burrrp] snippets of personal information in my text. I believe it endears me to my readers [pbbbbbbbbbbbt]. It’s, like, I’m in the [snort] room with you.
It’s not being used as a verbal crutch in the OP’s context; it’s a qualifier for the number six. They are not filling space to buy time to compose their next thought. They are describing the number six as being an estimation or a lot.
Funny that you put it that way. It’s just “I played [something] like six Boggle games in a row” with the [something] removed. It represents an approximation, with a flavor of “but nobody was counting.”
Interesting, Johnny_Bravo. I didn’t intend its use as an approximation. To me it comes off as a way to qualify how I feel about the subject, It says something about me and the casualness and familiarity of the relationship. There’s nuance.
Besides what others have already said, “I played six Boggle games in a row” without the “like” just sounds kind of dull to me. Like a dry factual statement. Like that episode of the The Office where Dwight made the banner for an office birthday party, and it read “It is your birthday.” With a period.
The problem is that no two readers seem to agree on what that nuance is. To some, it means an approximation. To me it means you admit you did something excessive or dumb. To you it means you enjoyed doing it.
Nuance words that nobody understands aren’t delivering nuance. They’re delivering noise.