The reason it annoys me, other than the rather obvious issue, is that it makes grown, intelligent women sound like 14-year-olds. Plus the fact that I know I am guilty of using “Like” as a precursor for another word – and knowing it is for absolutely no reason at all. It doesn’t even really make sense when you break it down and listen.
Standing outside of my daughter’s dance class last week I listened while two young moms discussed one of their million dollar homes, and consequent reconstruction of said home. I know it was a million dollars because one of them felt the need to say what a great deal they got on it and the price they paid.
Now this woman could not feasibly be an idiot – having secured and paid for, and subsequently reconstructed a million dollar home. I couldn’t do any of those things. But to hear her drawl on like a stoned Kardashian using “Like” every other word – made me want to scream for the sheer injustice of it all.
These other moms I am around are college educated women. They have impressive resumes where they lead companies and law firms, and run marketing departments and multimedia communication programs.
It just seems like they should have a better vocabulary to pull from on a daily basis in the car pool line or at dance pick up, but time and again I find the opposite.
Where does it come from??? People don’t use “Like” on the radio, or on the news, or anywhere else we are exposed to on a constant basis in our media centered world. Yet in my social circles, it is probably ranked the most common word.
One would think, that being aware of it, I would be the minority – the one stand alone who never misuses the word “Like” in a sentence it doesn’t need to be in. But I am afraid I am guilty as well. Just as guilty of using and over using “Like” the same as everyone around me.
Oh well, that’s probably the closest I will come to being a Kardashian in my lifetime!
Like is that a bad thing???
Oh, I hate it, too. Like, it’s one of my, like, biggest pet peeves!
I know that, linguistically speaking, it is just the evolution of language and language will move on leaving those of us who refuse to change with it sounding like archaic snobs. But, I would much rather sound like an archaic snob than a valley girl.
Lara
I agree. But how does language evolve into something that makes us sound so stupid? I posted this and now I am hyper aware of my own failings, and lazy dialogue. I better get it together so I mirror better language for my kids. They can get into those bad habits even quicker than I can.