My friends seem incapable of saying the word 'said', instead replacing it with 'was like'. Thus, when recalling speech in a conversation, this is what they say:
'I was like 'I'm going out' and he was like 'no you're not' and I was like 'yes I am' and he was like 'you' re staying in'.'
Do people actually know what the word 'like' means, because it certainly does not mean 'said'?!
2007-09-19 09:05:26 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It's called quotative like, and it seems to have originated about 25 years ago.
2007-09-19 09:14:35 · answer #1 · answered by ganesh 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I was taught English at school - how to speak and how to spell - and I still conform to these early teaching when writing - that way most people will understand what I mean. However, there are so many different dialects within the English language that spoken English has become a different kettle of fish - sometimes these different accents can be very cute! The only problem is when people start writing the way they speak - 'accents' are only alright in a script or when actually spoken.
2007-09-19 16:28:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ohmagaw! It's Valleyspeak, a subform of the English language which came into popular ususage in the 1980s in the San Fernando Valley of California. It's totally, like, bogus.
People who speak it now, are like, channeling a dead language.
2007-09-19 16:14:55 · answer #3 · answered by Thursday 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They might use "was like" when they're sumarrizing what the other person said, or don't want to use "said" because it implies that they remember *exactly* what that other person said.
Just my opinion. I say "was like" when I'm not including everything that was said and only am giving the general idea or feeling of the conversation.
2007-09-19 16:12:29 · answer #4 · answered by SMS 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I had this problem for quite a while. A friend of mine counted how many times I said "like" during our phone conversation. It was WAY too many. I try not to say it anymore, but it still slips sometimes.
2007-09-19 16:14:17 · answer #5 · answered by copswife134 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have to agree with you on this; this is one of the features of modern speech that most irritates me; it has become so widespread that my young acquaintances even using it when texting or messaging on-line, instead of the far shorter "said" (or "sed"!!!). In fact it usually appears as: "I wz lyk....."
2007-09-20 03:36:43 · answer #6 · answered by GrahamH 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The word 'like' seems to me to be used these days, by those who don't know any better, instead of 'about' (meaning approximately).
Thus, they will say, for example, "Hey, last night I drank, like, five beers!" instead of "Hey, last night I drank about five beers!"
Unfortunately, it's now become so much part of the language, almost everybody does it. I do it myself (and I DO know better).
2007-09-19 16:26:47 · answer #7 · answered by john g 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I always associate it with an inability to put together a proper sentence.
I also get annoyed by people who "revolve"... as in:
"and she turned round and said to me.......so I turned round and told her....."
What on earth is THAT supposed to mean!
2007-09-19 16:13:10 · answer #8 · answered by chip2001 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I do believe it was when the viki polard clones began taking over the country.
2007-09-19 16:12:45 · answer #9 · answered by requiemvalorum 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I feel sorry for you cos if my friends talked like that it would drive me nuts.
2007-09-20 04:02:26 · answer #10 · answered by Dotty 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋