and when did this all start?
2006-09-19 21:11:17 · 9 answers · asked by icey_skye23 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
hahaha, i just realized i typed question wrongly and im so stupid for not reading it before i posted it. oh well.
2006-09-19 21:22:23 · update #1
"Like" is now an emphatic marker in American English. With the decline of "do" as an emphatic marker about 500 years ago, English has been missing one. Many languages have emphatic markers that are used just like "like" is now, but English was trying to do the same thing with changes in word order. Word order changes are very complex and most people do not properly master them. Therefore "like" appeared in the 1980s as an emphatic marker in Southern California and spread rapidly throughout American English. It is now firmly implanted in the newest generation of American English speakers. It is unlikely to go away and in 50 years no one will notice its recent origin and will accept it as a normal part of everyday English. English will have a lexical emphatic marker again and will no longer have to rely on complex word order changes in order to mark emphasis in a sentence. That's how language changes and it is a completely normal process.
2006-09-20 03:19:23 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
1. Because they are stupid. They cannot shake this habit apparently.
2. About 15 years ago in the San Fernando Valley of L.A. with the "Valley Girls".
It is really annoying, isn't it?
2006-09-20 04:17:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Did you miss the last 20 years? It's been around since the early 80's. Yep, like, valley girls, like ummm... started it and ummm. Totally RAD!
2006-09-20 04:22:43 · answer #3 · answered by lenfantdezappa 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Like about 10 years ago like
2006-09-20 04:14:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Like" in English has several functions:
--It denotes emphasis, like Taivo said. "He was like screaming at me!"
--It can be used as a "filler" word, the same as "uh" or "um." "So I went down there and, like, I mean we all went..."
--It can be used to report speech. In this way, "like" usually indicates a direct quotation, while "said" would indicate a paraphrase (counterintuitive, yeah, I know): "So I was like, 'What, you can't even bother to fill the tank up for me?' but he said he just forgot."
And, of course, it can be used to compare things. :-)
2006-09-20 19:47:42 · answer #5 · answered by Mekamorph 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Schools are so busy teaching kids how to live in high teck they for get to teach them grammar.
Just look at some of the questions in here. How do they communicate.
2006-09-20 04:17:05 · answer #6 · answered by timex846 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It started in the 80's with Valley Girls and it's come back around...as all horrid fads do. Like bell bottom pants...which thankfully didn't last long.
2006-09-20 04:13:54 · answer #7 · answered by maat13101 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I guess they think they are cool. Give them credit, it is probably the only ONE english word they know.......
2006-09-20 04:19:21 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I like do not know like. ;)
2006-09-20 04:15:59 · answer #9 · answered by ♣ ♣ 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋