# Overruse of the word "Like" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533 "2020-01-16T23:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/21 "2020-01-17T01:22:06Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > “So he goes, like, ‘Do you get what I’m saying?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you trying to tell me like his cat is all bald and stuff?’ And he’s like, ‘Noooo!! Get away with your bad self, dude!’” This usage is called a “quotative” (there’s a longer techno-linguistic jargon for it that I’ve seen) and is apparently a newer usage that arose in the 1990’s or so. I remember reading an article about around that time. The above-cited Wiki article has a section on it. Overall, “Like” has been around for a long time. It’s nothing recent. It came to prominence in the “beatnik” speech of the 1950’s-early 1960’s. MAD Magazine parodied it a lot. But according to the Wiki, it’s been around longer than that. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/22 "2020-01-17T01:55:04Z")
Like Y’know Basically You know what I mean/You feel me? Goes (used instead of “said”) I’m not gonna lie I swear! (said before telling a huge whopper, usually an authority) These words/phrases take on a nervous-tic quality, so that the speaker will use them more often to the point where the conversation becomes lost. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/23 "2020-01-17T02:17:32Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This usage is called a “quotative” (there’s a longer techno-linguistic jargon for it that I’ve seen) and is apparently a newer usage that arose in the 1990’s or so. I remember reading an article about around that time. The above-cited Wiki article has a section on it. > > Overall, “Like” has been around for a long time. It’s nothing recent. It came to prominence in the “beatnik” speech of the 1950’s-early 1960’s. MAD Magazine parodied it a lot. But according to the Wiki, it’s been around longer than that. Like, posts like this are why this board needs, like… an approval button of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/24 "2020-01-17T02:22:32Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > 1981 called and wants its rant back. (I see Miller beat me to it, but, like, whatever.) How about 1961? The 1980s had the backlash against the Valley Girl “like” but in the 1960s, the beatnik ‘like’ was already being ranted against. As I see Senegoid has already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/25 "2020-01-17T02:25:42Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > This usage is called a “quotative” (there’s a longer techno-linguistic jargon for it that I’ve seen) and is apparently a newer usage that arose in the 1990’s or so. I remember reading an article about around that time. The above-cited Wiki article has a section on it. > > **Overall, “Like” has been around for a long time.** It’s nothing recent. It came to prominence in the “beatnik” speech of the 1950’s-early 1960’s. MAD Magazine parodied it a lot. But according to the Wiki, it’s been around longer than that. :o How well I know. I remember my own battles with it. I had to work hard to drop that bad habit. Happily, I, you know, managed to overcome it. ---
**Author:** ![atimnie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atimnie/32/11_2.png) [@atimnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atimnie)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/26 "2020-01-17T18:51:14Z")
You know what’s the absolute worst? _Asking questions like, you know what’s the absolute worst?_ No! The absolute worst is when these verbal ticks are included in text. Like, there’s no reason to, um, you know, include them 99% of the time. I get why you’d say something like, “Um, did you mean to say that?” But there’s no reason a 100 word paragraph should be 33%, like, ya know, man, right. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/27 "2020-01-17T21:24:13Z")
> [@atimnie](#): > > You know what’s the absolute worst? > > _Asking questions like, you know what’s the absolute worst?_ > > No! The absolute worst is when these verbal ticks are included in text. Like, there’s no reason to, um, you know, include them 99% of the time. I get why you’d say something like, “Um, did you mean to say that?” But there’s no reason a 100 word paragraph should be 33%, like, ya know, man, right. Heh, in a previous post I considered mentioned that, as a fiction writer, I generally avoid many of these colloquialisms in the main text, despite the fact that I write in a fairly informal tone - but when I’m writing character dialogue I put this sort of thing in with deliberate intent. Y’all might not like it, but that’s what people actually talk like! ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/28 "2020-01-18T10:33:59Z")
Dude! I had to listen to someone explain their new system. It was already not one of my favorite topics (HR related) and the person does not do public speaking well, and is not a native English speaker. I almost started counting how often she used “um”. It was was more than 20%. I swear. Really. It would have been better to be silent that to use “um”. I have the same opinion of “like”. I try not to use “like” and I try even harder to not think poorly of people who use it often. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/29 "2020-01-18T11:34:27Z")
Let’s all of us get stoned and sit cross-legged on the floor, where we may speak profound observations on the condition of the universe, such as: “Hey, like Wow man!” ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/30 "2020-01-19T00:49:52Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > This has been bothering me for years. It has become the new “um”. I’ve let it slide for years, but after watching this guy who barely speaks English say it every other word, I must share. > > And a close second is everyone who will reply trying to use “like” as much as possible. Little late for you to go ham about “like,” y’know what I’m sayin. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/31 "2020-01-19T01:28:49Z")
I had a teacher once whose hesitation word was “again.” I counted once; she used the word as filler about once every sixty seconds. I wish I hadn’t noticed it, because I could never stop hearing it. I have no problem with common filler words, because I can tune them out. Uncommon ones are totally distracting to me. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/32 "2020-01-19T02:31:20Z")
There’s an [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/1483/) for this. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533/33 "2020-01-19T02:39:20Z")
I hate all of you. Is that better? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/overruse-of-the-word-like/846533.md?page=1)