We Should, Like, Stop Saying Like.
Posted by Alex in Everything Else on June 16, 2006 at 2:56 am
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COMMENT
112 comments to "We Should, Like, Stop Saying Like."
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s harris
June 16th, 2006 at
4:32 am
Like, wow man!
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Leo
June 16th, 2006 at
4:54 am
First post to not say “like”!
Edit: DAMN >_
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Antti
June 16th, 2006 at
4:57 am
And while you’re at it, stop saying “Oh my God” and “Awesome”. Please.
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Ra.Ge
June 16th, 2006 at
5:11 am
and “you know”… you know!
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joffe
June 16th, 2006 at
5:18 am
linguistic elitism like this gets on my nerves. if you can clearly express your idea, does it matter if you use slang or speech scattered with disfluencies? i don’t think so. when someone uses improper grammar, they are assumed unintelligent by most intellectuals- it’s simply another way to alienate the proletariat.
this type of condescending nonsense just makes those who peddle it look like smug pricks.
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ryce
June 16th, 2006 at
5:48 am
the word “like” has lost all sense and meaning.. is that how you spell it??
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dodgyd55
June 16th, 2006 at
5:53 am
oh my god this is like awesome and stuff, i never knew like was making people sound like dumb and stuff
rofl, sooooooo true………like
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caits
June 16th, 2006 at
6:06 am
Language is fluid. Like is just another bad habit like hmmmm, um, well or uh, only the older guard is not quite used to it. I have no problem with it in spoken casual english.
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Miss Cellania
June 16th, 2006 at
6:15 am
Getting a, like, link, on, like, Neatorama is, like, neat! Ya know, like, thanks!
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nacquiesce
June 16th, 2006 at
6:24 am
This is ,like, so funny . . . and stuff
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Marty Z
June 16th, 2006 at
6:41 am
Did anyone notice that “AWARENESS” is misspelled in this poster?!? For the “Academy of Linguistic Awarness”???
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TAPA
June 16th, 2006 at
6:42 am
Oh boy, here we go… this is where a million arm-chair-trained “linguists” will tell us the perils of using words such as “like”. This sort of use is NOT a bad habit. It does NOT lack meaning. And, the various uses are, linguistically speaking, syntactically functional and perfectly fine to say. I recommend that the creators of the poster change their title to “Academy of Prescriptive Linguistics Awareness”. It more accurately describes their school marm ways. Now, if only they were as anal about their use of punctuation in their taglines.
Sincerely,
The Academy of Punctuation Awareness.
“Don’t look like so stupid,,,, like stop using unnecessary commas” -
Your Excellency
June 16th, 2006 at
7:27 am
Too bad they can’t spell Academy…
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rin
June 16th, 2006 at
8:10 am
…notice the irony?
Good, have a cookie!
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Tom
June 16th, 2006 at
8:20 am
There are so many better and more f-cking productive things that these people could be spending their money on.
Idiots.
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kidcnote
June 16th, 2006 at
8:25 am
You, like like is dumb man. Ya know what I’m sayin. You gotta be like stupidd to be likin like ya know.. Ya know what I’m sayin..
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codeman38
June 16th, 2006 at
8:29 am
This has to be a big in-joke. No real nitpickers would use a comma splice in their slogan, much less allow ‘academy’ or ‘awareness’ to be misspelled… :-p
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GoCatGo
June 16th, 2006 at
8:38 am
Is codeman38 right? This is a joke, isn’t it? It has to be a joke.
If not, I have to side with caits and TAPA. Although I often find the (mis?)appropriation of certain words annoying (like, awesome, gay), I’m not about to start a linguistic holy war.
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cybele
June 16th, 2006 at
8:45 am
The misspellings and comma splicing must be deliberate and ironic. I disagree that there are better or more productive things ‘these people’ could spend their money on, Tom, and by the way, nice prepostition at the end of your sentence…
What is YOUR cause, Tom? Baby seals? Political action? Battered women? For some people, linguistics is a cause. A noble one.
This country is undergoing a literacy crisis. Many, many people think they can write, and do so, frequently, annoyingly, badly. It horrifies a certain segment of the population subjected to the results of this ‘writing.’
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John F
June 16th, 2006 at
8:46 am
Has it occured to any of you snipers that the Academy of Linguistic Awareness may not actually exist, and that the poster is simply a little joke to poke fun at schoolkids?
Why not just laugh, instead of trying to assert your intellectual superiority?
Chill, dudes, like…
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a
June 16th, 2006 at
8:47 am
Dude.
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Frank
June 16th, 2006 at
9:00 am
hey, here’s a different poster with a guy instead. It has the same mispellings. http://flickr.com/photos/ymalakha/64949425/
I’m going to guess this is someone’s guerilla art project or something.
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John F
June 16th, 2006 at
9:08 am
Dat iz one clever monkey, like!
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Fabrice
June 16th, 2006 at
9:24 am
I like that.
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Miss Cellania
June 16th, 2006 at
9:39 am
Yeah, y’all, I’m pretty certain its a joke. Its probably not even a real photograph.
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DeathBoy
June 16th, 2006 at
10:14 am
Hilarious! Obviously a spoof, with slyly ironic deliberate mistakes. It doesn’t take much to get the commentors frothing at the mouth, though, does it?
I’ll learn them damned linguists to keep off ma speakins!
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Zisele
June 16th, 2006 at
10:38 am
Looks like something President Bush might have written (all by himself, of course!).
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fartikus
June 16th, 2006 at
11:17 am
what about “i mean”
people seem to lead off every sentence now with “i mean”
yes of course you mean it, or you wouldn’t be saying it
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Sorcerer Mickey
June 16th, 2006 at
11:20 am
Kids today will grow up unfamiliar with metaphors because they are exposed only to, like, similes.
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Michael W. Dean
June 16th, 2006 at
11:27 am
I agree with John F, this “academy” probably doesn’t exist. Google the phrase…The only other hit is another billboard on flickr.com, the one with the, like, um, the guy on it.
I don’t mind “like” as punctuation, and I’m a grammar stickler. I write and proofread for a living. And actually enjoy it. But I agree with several other statements here: that language is fluid, that casual conversation has different rules than formal, that old foggies who had grammar beat into them with a switch have the most problem with this stuff.
….And also that because of the Internet, we are now seeing WAY more crappy writing. Some people say that the country is becoming less literate. I don’t think so, I think we’re just seeing more of it. It used to be that most writing we read was written by professionals and edited by professionals. Now most writing we see is written by anybody and edited by nobody.
My main feeling on writing is if it is clear and conveys something useful. I’d take casual writing (or speech) with good flow and something to say over perfect Queen’s English that reads stilted any day.
–Michael W. Dean
“A language is a dialect with an army.”
–Bill Bryson“Rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.”
– Frank Zappa -
Iozzi
June 16th, 2006 at
11:27 am
I saw this and was like, Dude…
So I thought I’d share my thought but then a said Dude. Which was what I was thinking. It’s awesome when people can get together and share their thought. -
angrman
June 16th, 2006 at
11:31 am
“”, gag me with a spoon, ‘kay
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Soren
June 16th, 2006 at
11:56 am
Could people also, like, stop saying “Know, what i´m saying(?)”?
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Stephen
June 16th, 2006 at
12:15 pm
Joffe owes me a keyboard… Alienating the proletariat?
People assume people who can’t speak the language without slang or disfluencies to be unintelligent because they SOUND unintelligent.
Which sounds better to you:
“I had, like, for like, lunch, some, like, chicken.
OR
“I had some chicken for lunch.”Of course anyone with a grasp of the language is going to naturally assume someone who can’t express an idea without using slang or “like” is a gibbering idiot because that’s exactly what they appear to be.
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Sean
June 16th, 2006 at
12:29 pm
Prescriptivism is, like, SO totally not the approach that, like, real linguists take.
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nathan
June 16th, 2006 at
12:38 pm
It’s a pretty reasonable request. I said like a lot in my early teens, my parents called me on it and said work on stop doing that, and I did.
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Austin
June 16th, 2006 at
12:38 pm
What I think is ridiculous about “like” being used when most people do, is that they don’t use it as a pause like people do with “um”, “uh”, or something similar. I always seem to hear it rattled off in a sentance just simply to have it there, not to pause for anything. “I was like going to the mall and there was like this guy that was like so cute”. NO pauses. Irritates the hell out of me. Now when used more like “I suppose its, like, not so bad”, I don’t really mind. At least the person speaking is pausing to think about what they are saying for a moment.
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vudukungfu
June 16th, 2006 at
12:39 pm
Like, you know, actually, like, I mean, Uh, like, kin I axe youse, like, if, like actually, uhm, Oh, I forgot , like, what I was actually like going to say.
Like, I mean, anyway, when you go “like” and someone else goes “like” the two of you like actually know that the other one’s who is going “like” knows like what the other one, like actually means, right?
So like, it shouldn’t matter, actually, you know? -
UberSchatz
June 16th, 2006 at
12:50 pm
Add the following to the list of “Please stop saying these phrases”: Step up to the plate
Take it to the next level
Do what you/I gotta do
Staged an intervention (although
I think if we somehow got rid of
Lindsey Lohan, we could do away
with this phrase altogether) and
Diva -
Me
June 16th, 2006 at
12:56 pm
my ban list:
“chipotle” -
Knowitall
June 16th, 2006 at
12:56 pm
Are you people just bored or do you really always get so serious about nothing? Incidentally, as obviously intelligent people, most of you should realize that when speaking with someone in person, anything goes. People worth speaking to don’t require good grammar! The posters doing the most critical writing, albeit properly written with like, (couldn’t help myself)perfect diction, sound to the rest of us like a bunch of old fuddyduddies (probably spelled that wrong but I don’t CARE)with WAY too much time on their hands!
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Alex
June 16th, 2006 at
1:00 pm
While we’re on a linguistic witch hunt, I nominate for deletion: big ol’.
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Michael
June 16th, 2006 at
1:10 pm
Yeah, it’s your mastery of the English language and also that sexy condescending attitude that gets you laid so often I’m sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like#Valley_speak_and_beatniks
People need to give this type of shit a rest, like, seriously.
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lol
June 16th, 2006 at
1:13 pm
lol
like, nawmean? rite?
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rolandog
June 16th, 2006 at
1:13 pm
@Marty_Z:
Indeed! ‘Awarness’… looks like they’ll get in trouble with the AMS (Academy of Misspelling Awareness), which in turn would get in trouble with the PGCUE (People for the Gramatically Correct Use of English).The PGCUE would, in turn, get in trouble with the AMS… for having a misspelling in their organizational name (’Grammatically’).
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UberSchatz
June 16th, 2006 at
1:16 pm
Hey Knowitall: Don’t get your britches in a wad. We’re just, like, having fun.
Also, add: Bling, bling, for real, I kid you not, fixin to(that one might not apply everywhere) and hold off -as in, “Hold off on painting that room until I get the paint”I could go on.
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Vorsheroona
June 16th, 2006 at
1:19 pm
There are few enough ways to easily detect the stupid. Please leave their poor grammar, bad spelling, and influence by current media alone.
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Chomskyite
June 16th, 2006 at
1:19 pm
This has to be a big joke. There’s no way a linguist try to discourage people from speaking the way they speak. Linguists describe and explain the language that people actually use. They don’t tell us how to talk. In fact there are numerous linguistic papers in favor of the use of “like.”
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gibson
June 16th, 2006 at
1:30 pm
while we’re at it, let’s add the word (phrase?) “uh” to the mix. If someone is speaking to me and using EITHER of these annoyances, I stop them and ask them if there’s a grown up that I might be able to talk with (especially if it’s in a retail position!)
Do your part to stop the idiots…and let’s put the entire ebonics dictionary (an oxymoron in and of itself) on the next billboard
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gibson
June 16th, 2006 at
1:35 pm
“…when speaking with someone in person, anything goes. People worth speaking to don’t require good grammar…”
you’re kidding right?
people tend to write like they speak, so correct one and you may correct the other. tolerate one and you may promote the other, yes?
thank goodness people raising small children don’t think that way or we’d have a sale on “wubbies” and “binkies” at the local Wal-mart-orama.
And anyone worth speaking to (I’m assuming you mean people with a particular point or position to extend) would do better to not heed this advice as sounding like an IDIOT may tend to hamper your point
To me, it’s all about laziness. People CAN take the time to speak, write and enunciate properly…they’re just lazy and we take. -
gibson
June 16th, 2006 at
1:39 pm
ONE thing I enjoyed about this though…AT LEAST IT’S IN ENGLISH (such as it is)
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Tom
June 16th, 2006 at
1:50 pm
Yea, I get this crap everytime I say “like” from my teachers.
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zopi
June 16th, 2006 at
1:56 pm
Duuuuude!
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'nyx
June 16th, 2006 at
2:31 pm
To second Gibson’s observations I would like to point out that people often write what they *think* they hear as well. This is what has led to the proliferation of incorrect usage of “your” and “you’re”, “there”, “their” and “they’re” and something I’ve started to notice in the last few years that I never saw when I was younger, the misuse of “then” and “than” (as in “I like this one better ‘then’ that one” which is on blogs worldwide without the writers having a clue how incorrect it is.
Not being able to speak or write correctly *is* an issue because it promotes a lack of self-awareness. Don’t hold on to the mindset that people speak one way but know how to be correct and are choosing not to, fully aware of it. If people sound illiterate when they speak it is generally because they are. When they read things that would correct their errors, they don’t notice or retain this information. If that were the case then they would never misuse “its” and “it’s”.On the other hand ther are also people who try to “amp up” their apparent literacy by “stealing” syllables, as in “irregardless”. People like to slip in that extra syllable to make the word seem bigger, but in reality they’ve only shown their ineptitude and lack of grasp on the language. You see this in the business world daily. I have no idea how many times I hear the word “pareto” misused, the speaker obviously not having a clue as to its derivation or proper definition.
As and architecture student, don’t even get me started on the use of “architect” as a verb. Idiots. Even *architects* don’t “architect” things… they DESIGN them. Architect is a NOUN. The next time someone says “we architected a solution” in a meeting… punch them… in the throat.
Take some time, become self-aware and better yourself. You better society when you do. If you don’t, then you’re just part of the problem.
/rant over
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Evra
June 16th, 2006 at
2:31 pm
There is no spoon!
Y’all need to chill out and enjoy life more.
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Jim
June 16th, 2006 at
3:10 pm
“Like” is a problem but “You Know” is an even more ubiquitous misuse of language, you know? And the next talking head who uses “ABSOLUTELY” needs to be, you know, shot.
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Guse
June 16th, 2006 at
3:16 pm
Wow, people read this site?
Either way I think the bilboards are funny and should be taken to heart. I say it sometimes, but kids these days, holy moly! lay off it!
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D. Meloney
June 16th, 2006 at
3:18 pm
1. Latest pet hate - using “grow” as a transitive verb. Roses grow, and they may be grown, by a rose grower, businesses may grow, but you can’t ‘grow a business’ (ie: make it larger)or ‘grow a concept’ (add to it). You can build a business, expand an idea, or improve a concept. Buy a thesaurus!
2. When I was learning public speaking (for vocational teaching) I had to break the ‘you know’ habit. I was told that speakers use it as a pause to think of the next idea or word. Don’t! If you need time, stop talking ….. a pause is dramatic and if not overused will capture the listener’s attention. Instead of being distracted by null phrases such as ‘like…’ and ‘you know’ the listener will be anxious for the next word!
3. I get emails. I send them. I know how to type and spell, BUT we all make mistrakes. Re-read the darn thing before you send it to me. There are few things that make you look dumber than misspellings in your correspondance. -
Doktor Sanity
June 16th, 2006 at
3:37 pm
I think this is great. If you are the type to think this is a means to alienate the proletariat, then consider that the proletariat deserve to be alienated.
Though it does reek of smugness or possibly snobbery.
Like, you know… whatever.
-
Wesley
June 16th, 2006 at
3:45 pm
…. *Deep Breath*….
Ok, with that over with. It is my belief, and keep in mind this is just my opinion. But I have 3 theories. 1. Think back to high school. Remember when the girls were talking like “valley girls”? In other words they were preppy.. Well, I think they were trying to change thier personality to that so much, they actually forgot how to sound/write intelligently. 2. They really didn’t pay attention in school, and therefore really DON’T know how to write, but are intelligent people. OR, 3. They’re stupid and, all hope is lost..
But seriously… It isn’t such a big deal. I know, it’s annoying to try to read something you can’t make out. But really, is it such a big deal? Like Evra said, and I could not have said it better was, Ya’ll need to chill out and enjoy life more.
:) -
(8?»
June 16th, 2006 at
3:50 pm
I just hate it when, like, people use phrases like “transitive verbs.”
I’m like, duuuuuuuuuude, WTF do I care…. k?
I gotta agree with #3 though! LOL
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Loopy Loo
June 16th, 2006 at
4:12 pm
wow, this be mad retahdid foreal yo!
OK, seriously. To gibson: You said, “To me, it’s all about laziness. People CAN take the time to speak, write and enunciate properly…they’re just lazy and we take.” Was it not laziness you just demonstrated by not using correct capitalization in more than half of your comment? There is nothing worse than a hypocrite.
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Loopy Loo
June 16th, 2006 at
4:21 pm
I do find it fascinating, though, that people are such up in arms over this topic.
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Sallie
June 16th, 2006 at
4:28 pm
I cannot believe that this simple blog has 64 comments. What a waste of time, even mine.
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v.dog
June 16th, 2006 at
4:31 pm
Indeed.
The worst offender: “It’s like, you know, whatever”. Each of those it bad enough, together it’s a lethal mix of apathy, laziness, and stupidity.
Another one I hear a lot is “…and stuff”, as in “like, we went out and stuff”
:X
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UberSchatz
June 16th, 2006 at
4:58 pm
Also, “and everything like that”, as in “and everything like that”.
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El Rockwell
June 16th, 2006 at
5:07 pm
Like, reading these like, comments, like wasted my time. And now I like, wasted yours if you like, read mine that has the same joke as like, 60+ before it. Like.
~El
*ATOMIC WAIT out now! New Rockwell Designs availalbe!*
http://www.myspace.com/elrockwell -
P
June 16th, 2006 at
5:10 pm
If you can, like, grow a rose… why can’t you, like, grow a business? Other than, you know, biology, I mean?
Know what I mean? -
loggerhead
June 16th, 2006 at
5:24 pm
Like, git err done!
southern for “you” eeeyyywww–sound like ewe–yes a female of the sheep variety -
chris
June 16th, 2006 at
5:36 pm
This discussion was entirely retarded.
Proper grammar and proper spelling are not difficult things to master. 90% of the time, whenever someone has a problem of that nature, it’s due to sheer laziness and willful ignorance. People like being ignorant, and in general they are far too lazy and complacent to think of improving themselves at all.
I can’t stand the simpletons who can’t add anything menaingful to conversations; all they can wome up with is “Dude, you need to chill out and enjoy life more!” Ok, if you have nothing meaningful to add, please shut up and die. The whole idea of someone *actively* deciding to comment somewhere and say: “Why is this a big deal? Stop caring!” is perverse and oxymoronic.
Don’t complain that a blog/comment-war was a waste of time. No one fucking made you read it. As if your time is so precious; you’d just be reading some other stupid forum discussion somewhere else, and complaining about how all your time was wasted there as well.
***
The English language is DYING, and it’s precisely because of attitudes like the ones presented here. Non-academics, non-scholars, “average joes” who are perfectly content with their utter illiteracy and inability to communicate effectively and properly and convey their meanings clearly and who, furthermore, feel the need to PREACH their IGNORANCE to those of us who DO decide to speak and write properly, are the main weapon in this war.In 50 years, we’re all going to be talking in ebonics (the most ridiculous thing to ever come out of America, perhaps?), and we’ll have completely forgotten how to punctuate sentences and speak clearly.
We’re gonna take things to the limit, you know what I’m sayin’? And you better don’t try to stop it, neither, ‘cuiz that shit’s coming daahn, like, for RILL. It’s like, it’s like, dayum, dood, who be TRYIN to tell me how I can and can’t talk?
-
Sanity
June 16th, 2006 at
5:49 pm
Why don’t you just, like, shut up! Then all those “like, like…” will fill up your head and sooner or later it will blow your hat off because there is no where else for them to go!
One way coming to terms with this pathetic iteration of a substitute for diverse ideas that just don’t seem to have an adequate expression is to slow down your speach. Don’t assume that people will know what you mean just because you’re simplistic and seemingly uncomplicated and easy going. The fact is that nothing you say will be remembered or cited. You see, you’re just a waste of time and space!
Yours sincerely
-
Nathan
June 16th, 2006 at
5:56 pm
3 words…..gonads and strife
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Sanity
June 16th, 2006 at
6:10 pm
Well, Chomskyite, not all linguists are good, some are down right evil! Not even all good linguists should encourge a usage most people don’t retain.
Yours sincerely
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Eric A.
June 16th, 2006 at
6:21 pm
It’s like, sad that Academy is spelled wrong when they’re like, totally making fun of people with poor grammar.
thanks,
Eric -
gh3tt0 b0y
June 16th, 2006 at
6:47 pm
Word.
-
jami
June 16th, 2006 at
7:27 pm
this will backfire. whenever i watch a movie with a “like” character, i speak like a total moron the next day. this despite the fact that i got a 770 on the verbal section of my sat, back in the olden days.
it’s a classic to misspell “awareness” in the middle of calling other people stupid.
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Gail
June 16th, 2006 at
7:47 pm
And I am I the ONLY one not saying ACTUALLY? actually, I think I was.
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Ian
June 16th, 2006 at
10:32 pm
The paomnnehal pweor of the hmuan mnid
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll read it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcusae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
I regret joining so late in the game but I thought this might make it worth the effort of reading all the way down to #77. Besides, the inserting of like between every word stopped being clever after the second post. Even those of you who don’t see a need for proper grammar in speech can agree that where your generation had a relaxed view of language, mine is growing worse with every hedonistic fad. You seem to live in something of a culture bubble if you think ‘like’ is still a problem. Have you not seen the swill coming out of instant messengers? Gone are the days of ubiquitous place holders, now you’re lucky to get a word spelled in its entirety, excluding cases where numbers are used in their place. I certainly don’t expect the world to spout William Blake back and forth but can we at least have actual words? That’s where that relaxed attitude becomes a problem. Slipping from formal to casual is perfectly fine, but we’re going from casual to unintelligible. It’s ok to be a little alarmist.
Can’t we all just join hands across America for the end of lol?
-
Madeleine
June 16th, 2006 at
10:49 pm
I have always been pretty good at spelling, but I have found that repeated exposure to poor spelling, grammar and usage has had a debilitating effect on my own. I have seen the wrong version of complimentary/complementary so many times that now I am unsure of the correct one; I keep typing their when I mean they’re or there; I now have no idea how to spell broccoli.
I believe the way you pick up language is through exposure - reading lots of well-edited books and articles, listening to lots of well crafted speech, practising correct usage and being corrected by your teachers when you are wrong. It doesn’t help your learning when there are so many inconsistencies that you are exposed to.
We do have different expectations of the quality of writing eg the standard is more loose for online chats, verbal communication and personal emails vs business emails, job applications, essays and articles. But unless standards are maintained somewhere, others won’t be able to refer to those to derive the standards.
I think people responsible for advertisements and signage have a lot to answer for. If I got a sign made and it had a spelling mistake, I’d certainly do something about it. But no, I have seen signs for a chirpractor, and a bicylce shop. You would really think they’d care. I have had to buy stationary and walked down many a confectionary aisle of the supermarket.
There are occasions where proof reading is just essential. I have just been marking some essays which told me about unstainable ecosystems, that people are permitted from fishing in a marine reserve, and that we should be concerned about the pollution size of fish due to overfishing.
Other pet peeves: finding mistakes that even a spell check would have picked them up in printed material; ect; opps instead of oops (just say opps out loud, people!); should of, could of and would of; when people respond poorly to being corrected or claim that they don’t care or it doesn’t matter.
Sure, languages change and evolve. But just because lots of people drive too fast, steal, or beat their kids, it will never make it right. -
Aaron
June 16th, 2006 at
10:53 pm
I have two observations here. The first is to, against my better judgment, take a side in this fray and agree with the posters who feel the language is dying. In the case of misuse of the word “like,” I would give the example of anything you’re trying to use for information. If a telephone book were filled with unnecessary words, it would become more and more difficult to gather what you want from it until it reached a point where you put it down and found your information elsewhere. If a radio station has too much static, you change the station to one you can hear clearly.
Overuse of “like,” or any other word, is simply a form of static in speech. It’s extra sound that adds no meaning, and in the most extreme cases, can obfuscate the point the speaker wanted to make. Yes, it’s casual speech, and need not be held to the same standards as formal speech (or writing, though I would argue that since the written word lacks facial expression, body language, and other means of conveying a message that clarity is more important here, and some formality should ALWAYS be used). That said, if I’m listening to someone, it’s because I want them to communicate a point. If all I’m getting is noise, I may miss their point–or worse, I may decide I don’t care enough to continue to listen.
My second point is simpler. We need to be critical of a habit of misuse, certainly. At the same time, however, we need to be tolerant of minor errors that aren’t indicative of ignorance or a pattern of error. I would point out that I found an error in almost every “intelligent” post here, including the professional author and proofreader. People make errors which they may fail to notice, despite knowing how the language should work. I’m a nitpicker, right down to comma splices, and yet I suspect that there is an error in my own post somewhere.
To the people who don’t care about correctness and feel that if their point was communicated, they did a good enough job, you are lazy. You’re opting to be incorrect in speech and writing because the consequences of your errors aren’t severe enough to make you care. I would never hire you for a job I want done right; you’ll stop when you feel it’s passable.
To the people who nitpick every single thing in casual speech and writing, you’re wasting energy that could be better spent on other things. If a “like” slips into a sentence alone, I’ll bite my tongue. If someone accidentally presses two keys and doesn’t notice their typo, deal with it. It’s the people who don’t know they’re consistently making errors, and the people who do know (or worse, assume they’re making errors, but don’t care to correct them), but choose to be wrong because it’s easier, who bother me.
Again, I’m sure someone will find an error in my post. Any such error is fair game. If I chastise people for speaking and writing improperly, I have to be prepared to accept the same. I like being corrected (when it’s done with respect and tact). I care about what I write, and want it to be correct.
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Scott
June 17th, 2006 at
12:18 am
The sign would be more effective if it didn’t use a run-on sentence as the main headline.
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neal
June 17th, 2006 at
1:10 am
linquistic awareness, and it’s misspelled… ha!
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Ben Adlin
June 17th, 2006 at
2:18 am
Not only is ‘linguistic awareness’ spelled incorrectly, but the word ‘like’ in the main headline should either be italicized or put in quotations. Is the ALA serious? What would the Academy of Grammatical Awareness say about this?
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3:20am WTF?
June 17th, 2006 at
2:20 am
I’m going to have to go with the grammar camp on this one. I was a “like” kid myself.. *shudders*.
That said it must be noted that spelling as a whole in an age where only about 5mm rests between g and h speeling errors are common.
However I do agree with the fact that if i cannot convey one clear linear thought without having to break a simple 5 word sentance into a paragraph of likes and ya knows then how am i to get others to understand what i’m saying.
/I blame videogames!
//how old is Bob Barker?
///SLASHIES///! -
Bobby
June 17th, 2006 at
11:26 am
And, after someone says ‘thank you’ say ‘you’re welcome’.
Avoid saying ‘no problem’ or a variation thereof. -
Lizbennett
June 20th, 2006 at
9:53 am
How chauvinistic! This is just language policing. Using the word “like” in this manner may sound ridiculous to some (mostly highbrows), but it’s a phase. You don’t hear middle aged people saying “stuff” or “whatever”.
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Kevin
June 20th, 2006 at
12:25 pm
This is definitely satire. I can’t find any reports of billboards, but it has been reported that a series of these fliers were/are being passed around LA.
http://www.whoisean.com/main/2006/06/acadamy-of-linguistic-awareness.h tml
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PunkyPus
June 21st, 2006 at
12:55 am
i dig man. man.
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likejondude..
July 7th, 2006 at
11:58 am
this whole thing is going nowhere really slowly..
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likejondude..
July 7th, 2006 at
11:59 am
and ppl that have these really long messages, nobody is going to take the time to read yours if you go on and on and on..
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Maddy
July 31st, 2006 at
1:12 am
This is BULL
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Allen
October 24th, 2006 at
8:59 am
Using “like” probably originated in California. Besides hearing it everyday, I noticed it in the first “Halloween”. I think users are too stupid to substitute proper english.
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babyboomer
November 2nd, 2006 at
4:37 pm
All of these comments are very interesting to read. I can appreciate the opposing points of view. When informal and personal communication is the main issue, don’t worry over regional speech, common slang, or other words that you personally wouldn’t choose to use, as long as you understand the speaker. In a formal setting or for something being said or written for posterity, try to make an attempt at standard usage. Let this poster be appreciated as a joke for the ones of us who like to pick out every mistake. I know repetitive phrases can become annoying, but try to value users for the color and variety they add to the world. Everyone may not have been afforded the same educational benefits and cultural surroundings. Not everyone had a mother like mine who went behind me correcting every mistake in grammar when I was young. Does this make them any less worthy? Does finding fault with them make us better people in any way? I don’t think so.
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Bob
November 7th, 2006 at
3:05 pm
In my opinion, the worst offender is an almost complete sentence. More specifically, I hate it when a writer writes a sentence that would be complete except for a missing “than”, or “or”, or a similar word. It often leads to me having to sit there trying to figure out the meaning of the sentence. If a writer would just overuse “like”, or fail to capitalize the first letter of their sentences, I could move on.
Robert Jordan is guilty of incomplete sentences in the last two books of his I’ve read, Wheel of Time #9 and #10. It really slows down the reading. His first several books were nearly perfect as far as spelling and grammar are concerned. Maybe he is becoming senile.
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Poor spellor
November 14th, 2006 at
2:55 am
While I find this an interesting discuction, I feel it is a case of lowered standards and/or expectations. People who use “like” or “ya know” sound stupid and if we don’t correct them then we are promoting stupidity. personal email with spelling and grammatical errors need not be corrected and sent back with corrections,but maybe a note about the spell check feature in the future will make things easier for some people to tolerate the foibles of human kind. And kep up the discussion; I found some pearls in some of the postings,but the intenional use of “like” was tiresome after the second posting. And could I request people drop “literally” in conversation? Often It makes no sense as in “I literally crapped my pants when she said that.” Sure you did…
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emily
December 1st, 2006 at
4:57 pm
do you have stupied sounds?
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lionel
March 3rd, 2007 at
3:22 am
Nearly half the people in the world have IQs below 100, by definition. How can you expect them to write without errors?
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The Mickster
July 13th, 2007 at
12:16 pm
If there is one saying that I can’t stand is hearing the phrase “for real”. I guess in this world of pathetic cheaters and liars a simple short phrase to validate someone else’s statement is for them to say “For real?”.
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Fairyfloss
May 19th, 2008 at
8:57 am
I had two americans visiting me over the weekend and I seriously got annoyed with them saying “like” about three times in every sentence… Its just plain lazy saying “like” instead of formulating a real sentence… Kill “like”
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Mike8163
June 2nd, 2008 at
4:02 pm
Linguistic elitism? You’ve got to be kidding? We’re not talking about dangling modifiers here, just overused and annoying speech patterns. I guess having any standard at all these days means you’re an elitist. We have the self esteem movement to thank for that. No, standards, just whatever makes you feel good about yourself and your group. Ugh.
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Mike8163
June 3rd, 2008 at
10:45 am
Also, there is a difference between the natural fillers that we use unconsciously to pause, “uh” , and knowingly sounding like a high school cheerleader to endear yourself to peers. The overuse of “like “whatever” “awesome” “I’m ’so’ not wearing those shoes” are exactly that. It’s funny how the very movies that showed how stupid this speech sounds, Valley Girls, Clueless, have somehow helped in making it catch on. Like ugh.
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Can't wait 'til "I'm Like" is RIP
January 31st, 2009 at
12:42 pm
I’m sick of these “I’m like” and “and she was like” people. It’s not laziness — it’s on purpose and it’s illiterate. I’m not against informal conversational language, but the “I’m like” phenomenon is serious overkill. Some people out there can’t speak one sentence without using “like” as a verb — and oftentimes they use like TWICE as a verb in the same sentence.
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TeacherCreature
March 24th, 2009 at
12:08 pm
Thank you to all for a most interesiting read, I like the reactions because some of you write like my students.
Remember learning in school that authors sometimes were paid by the word? Have you ever paid a high cell phone bill because of too many characters in an SMS?
Language is not just subjected to dialectic bias. So, when words are money, economize.
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How Bowers
April 24th, 2009 at
10:22 am
An interesting point, TeacherCreature. “Like” spang forth in the ’80s when rambling on was free. This generation will grow up with the limited character counts of SMS and Twitter and may be driven to economize language.
On the downside, everything will end up looking like Prince’s liner notes.
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Doctor X
April 24th, 2009 at
10:32 am
This can only help my campaign to make “that’s what she said” grounds for justifiable homicide. I approve.
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Ms. Kathleen
April 24th, 2009 at
2:26 pm
Acadamy, Awarness — It does make one wonder who really made this poster? I think they should be fired for improper spelling. Ya know, like, canned.
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Quito
April 25th, 2009 at
4:09 am
Ok, the “sign” is clearly someone’s little joke and the fact that it has misspellings is either part of the joke or kind of sad. Either way, I couldn’t care less if people insert “like”, “uhm”, “belzebub” or any other useless word into their speech. What is incredibly annoying is when people like, speak like so, and that they are, uhm, so like full of these, like, words that you don’t want to listen to them anymore. After twelve years of living in the US I find myself using “like” far too much, and it’s usage increases exponenetially in tandem with my blood alcohol level. If only I could delete the damn word from my brain’s dictionary, all would be peachy.
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fauzan
April 25th, 2009 at
7:14 am
i like this site
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eonsaway
April 25th, 2009 at
8:42 am
Maybe it is time for the opposite usage of ‘like’,'hate’. I don’t know about you but I prefer ‘like’.
Interesting topic. -
Marcus
April 25th, 2009 at
12:01 pm
I don’t understand why yall have a problem with like. I think yall are crazy
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ANNIE MARCOS AMIR
April 25th, 2009 at
12:29 pm
I am so glad that Stumble! led me to this site. As a former English teacher it saddens me (but doesn’t ruin my life) that we have come to such a pass with the English language. Gertrude Stein would not write in French even while living in France because she considered English such a wonderful language. Nobody likes a pedant, including me, who sometimes dislikes herself for not being more tolerant when I roll my eyes over something someone saying “That’s not my for-tay” instead of “That’s not my fort(e).” But we English teachers do get some marvelous laughs over this stuff, and laughing is certainly a good thing even when the laugh is one you, n’est-ce pas? and Verdad? I shall never forget a friend’s telling me about the best malapropism she ever heard: a woman who’d just had a baby confided that there had been problems with the UNBIBLICAL cord. Gotta love ‘er, right? Or my darling son, after graduating from high school and sleeping every day until two or so in the afternoon provoked me to say “You’re wasting your life sleeping!” To which he replied, “How would you like me to waste it?” I found all your comments “inneresting” and want to thank you for them. This has brightened my day, which, if it were any brighter (I live in Mexico) would blind me. There’s a writer whose name I can never spell (Shange Nuzaki, or something like that) who once read a piece on NPR about why Black people dress up for wakes and funerals. “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” as Aretha so wonderfully sings it. I have a dear friend who always refers to a colon (not asshole but punctuation mark) as “The two little dots, one on top of each other.” She was an army brat and changed schools too often, which is how she explains away her ineptitude with language. But she could better put her energy, in my opinion, into an effort to remember simple little words “colon” and “semi-colon.” Perhaps I’ve misspelled something in this rant; if so, forgive me and realize that none of us is (not ARE!) perfect, including this writer. As a poor self-conscious little girl growing up in affluent Miami Beach, I couldn’t focus on anything in school and nothing made much sense to me but the logic, the nearly impeccable logic, of the English language and its literature. No one is ever going to quote you, except in jest, if you overuse “like” or conflate “then” and “than,” and so on. As one translation of Flaubert’s words reads, “Language is like a cracked kettle upon which we beat tunes to teach bears to dance, while we long to move the stars to pity.” Wish I’d said that! Rant over. Signed “Happy Old Annie in Mexico, With, like, no more students to, you know, complain very, very, very sort of strongly about having to learn there, I mean their, you know, or is it they’re? own language!”
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Keiht Adams
April 28th, 2009 at
9:56 am
Oh my God…that’s like….you know… awesome!!
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