The word "like"...

[beakkeeper]

How often do YOU say it? Come on, we all do, unless of course you are a crazy amazing grammar god and you NEVER "desecrate the language" like that or you are from a different planet.

I use it liberally, but not, like, insanely! My friend Steph starts almost EVERY sentence with l--, I mean, that word...

 

[Ec_Prokta]

I ALWAYS say, "I was all like..."

 

[Rillion]

I view it as an unfortunate affliction that people should try as much as possible to train themselves out of. The attachment to the word "like" is not the only kind of affliction out there, though.

Some people have that tendency to add an upswing to the end of every sentence, making everything that comes out of their mouths sound like a question-- "So I went to the store? And I saw this guy buying bread? And I recognized him from school? So I started talking to him?"

With other people, practically every other word is a profanity-- "So I went to the #$!% store to buy some #$%@ bread, and I saw this guy I knew, and I was like, 'Holy $#%@, that's Mike!'"

If what is coming out of your mouth is "So, like, I went to the store, like, and I was like, looking at bread, and like, I saw this like, guy I know, and he was like....." then you've got, like, a problem.

How to fix it? Can't really say-- probably the only thing to do is have people call you on it, and embarrass you out of it. People who curse too much have curse jars, but it's trickier with "like" since it's a perfectly useful word....in moderation. Maybe you could have your friends do something when you say "like" more than twice in one sentence? For example, they could make chicken noises....

 

[chicks4kids]

My 10 year old daughter used to say it quite often, so when we noticed it becoming a true problem, we would stop her in mid-sentence and say "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand...were you (for example) riding your dirt bike? Or were you LIKE riding your dirt bike? Because how do you "LIKE" ride your dirt bike? After about a week of us keeping it up, she stopped!! Thank goodness!!

Now she corrects her friends! Bad habit to get into I think. Drives me nuts!!

 

[Sherry]

The other one that gets me is when every sentence is followed by the question "you know what i'm sayin?"

 

[swampducks]

I don't use like that way.

I have had to break myself of saying "he goes" instead of "he said" though.

My best friend uses the goes all the time so it's hard not to.

 

[EweSheep]

Also the "you know" in excess really peeved me big time. NO, I do not KNOW!

How do they know what I know??!!

 

[Paganbird]

Quote:
The over-use of the word "like" (which is often combined with grammatically incorrect sentence structures) truely is annoying.
In my opinion, though, the incorrect use of "absolutes" such as ALWAYS or NEVER is worse.
I have NEVER had my nose pierced. True.
I would NEVER eat a spider. Not True.
Although I would not normally eat a spider, I'm sure I would if a dire need presented itself. (Or if a spider was in my salad, without my knowledge.)
I am always arguing this point with my children.
"But she ALWAYS gets to go first!" No, that is not true. Most of the time, maybe, but not always.
Only say it if you mean it!

 

[JennsPeeps]

I'm working on 3 verbal goals to make my language use better:

1. Avoiding the word "like"
2. Speak in complete sentences and use more descriptive adjectives.
3. Stop swearing.

So far pretty good. I'd give myself a B.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

LOL! My roommate uses "obviously" and/or "seriously" and/or "clearly" at least twice in every sentence. It drives me insane! I'm probably guilty of using "like" a little bit too much while speaking but definitely not half as much as a lot of people! I know that I say "um" entirely too much, though. I also tend to swear quite a bit, heh.