# "Like" or snapping gum? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 28, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490 "2008-08-28T00:29:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/21 "2008-08-28T14:04:34Z")
I am so totally buggin’. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/22 "2008-08-28T14:08:26Z")
I agree with both, although I have started to get used to the ‘like’ thing. Snapping gum could cause me to be homicidal. Not really, but it’s almost to the point that I might just say something to the person next time. ‘Um, excuse me, but you’re chewing your gum LIKE A COW.’ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/23 "2008-08-28T14:21:44Z")
Meh. I still prefer it over men of a certain age who burp, fart and pick their orifices in public. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/24 "2008-08-28T14:46:16Z")
My 5 year old is already abusing “like” “totally” and “so”… as in “Mom, I’m like totally not friends with Emma any more. I am SO not her friend.” It’s like nails on a chalkboard. She’s also picked up that annoying thing where statements become questions. Such as, "So I was in my classroom? And the teacher left for a while? And one of the boys got up from his desk?.. It’s only a matter of time before I snap. Perhaps Spartydog and I could form a support group. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/25 "2008-08-28T17:31:13Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] OK, I suck at the Internet. I’ll try again. I thought I checked it and it worked. [/QUOTE] I do appreciate the self-effacing humor, but I’m afraid I will now forever picture you as [this guy](http://thelastminute.typepad.com/blog/images/image-6.jpg). Which isn’t so bad, considering my previous mental image of you was Tim Curry’s head on Strawberry Shortcake’s body, but as a mermaid. I need more sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rascal\_s\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rascal_s_Mom)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/26 "2008-08-28T17:57:08Z")
Hate hate hate gum chewing but go all postal on gum cracking. An ex bf used to chew his (cinnamon flavored) gum with his mouth open. Grrr ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/27 "2008-08-28T18:35:44Z")
Yeah, so like the other day I was brushing my hair and blah, blah, blah…you know what I mean? And then so-and-so did such and such and I told her that was just stupidn you know what I mean? And I hate it when I wake up in the morning and I was having a really good dream but I can’t remember it, do you know what I mean? … Do you? Dearest, sweetest friend of mine, I don’t mind listening to your random stream of conscience “conversations” really and truly, I don’t. However, when you say 'Do you know what I mean?" As a period after every sentence I assume, firstly, that you are asking retorically. Secondly, when five or six of these arw strung together, I begin to feel the need to gouge out your eyeballs while screaming “Do YOU know what _I_ mean??” As I feel this would be so detrimental to our friendship, I respectfully request that you refrain from asking constantly if I know what you mean (as there has never been a single time I have not, in fact, not known what you meant). In the event that you absolutely find yourself unable to fulfill this request, please for the love of all that I hold dear, stop asking this question and then actually waiting for me to respond with an affirmative answer. I beg you. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/28 "2008-08-28T18:38:15Z")
[QUOTE=Enola Gay] My 5 year old is already abusing “like” “totally” and “so”… as in “Mom, I’m like totally not friends with Emma any more. I am SO not her friend.” It’s like nails on a chalkboard. She’s also picked up that annoying thing where statements become questions. Such as, "So I was in my classroom? And the teacher left for a while? And one of the boys got up from his desk?.. It’s only a matter of time before I snap. Perhaps Spartydog and I could form a support group. [/QUOTE] This is actually quite easy to train them out of. Don’t respond when they are speaking like this, point it out every time, or mock them. **fisha** -mother of 5, none whom roll their eyes, say “like” or “you know” excessively, or speak in questions. They tried the head movement thing, but when I bawked like a chicken every time, it lost some of the appeal. At least around me, or in general conversations. Around their friend, all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/29 "2008-08-28T18:41:12Z")
I would also like to ask that y’all forgive my errors. I hit submit on accident and posting from my BB makes it impossible to edit in time. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/30 "2008-08-28T20:20:23Z")
I have a co-worker who has a loud peircing laugh at the the end of every sentence, as if she’s said something witty 9as far as I know she never has 😉 ) . Also, she is from Jamaica, and despite being in Cleveland for chrisakes insists on a very cartyoonish Jamaican accent that Mike Myers would cringe at. _“You know, mon, you’ll be travelling next week to New York, tee-hee-hee…”_ _“Yes, mon, yor tickut be non-refundable, tee-hee-hee-HEE-HEE…”_ ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Star_to_the_Right)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/31 "2008-08-29T00:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Mellivora capensis] … [/QUOTE] Hey, you stole my answer! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/32 "2008-08-29T08:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=Second Star to the Right] For me, it’s basically filler; it fits in the spaces between forming thoughts into words. [/QUOTE] Odd – most times I hear this, the words that come out next don’t appear to have had any great amount of thought formation put into them. But the gum popping is really annoying. I was almost assaulted on a bus because of this. I was sitting in a seat, reading my paper, when a woman got on the bus, sat down across the aisle from me, and suddenly snapped her gum loudly. I was startled, and looked at her. She said, rather aggressively, _‘Does me chewing my gum BOTHER you?’_ Without stopping to consider, I said _‘oh, no; it’s very nostalgic. It reminds me of growing up on the farm, with our contented cows chewing their cud as we milked them.’_ She stood up and scowled at me, and probably would have struck me, except that everybody sitting around us burst into laughter. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2008, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490/33 "2008-08-29T09:19:35Z")
I am thirty-eight years old. I am a heterosexual, single male. I’m not even sure I dislike being single, but of course I have the single guy’s roving eye, and sometimes on the bus or train, some older teenage girls will get on, and they do look very pretty. I do notice this. Then they open their mouths to speak. And I realise how young they are. It’s a total turn-off. As it should be, I guess. Question for Americans (and other non-Australians): Do teenagers in your area answer EVERY last statement with “Are you serious?” They’ve been doing it here for five or more years, and it’s driving me batshit crazy. I don’t have much contact with teenagers, but even people up to 25 (whom I work with) are doing it. “It’s a nice day today!” “Are you serious?” [Represses the urge to yell, “NO, FUCKFACE, I WAS LYING!!!”] “Er, ye-es” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/like-or-snapping-gum/461490.md?page=1)