i think stephen fry talked about it in an interview 10 years ago on telly. i think he said the aussie’s started it. or was it because of the telly programme beverley hills 90210 ! they were saying it on there.
i’m like totally in the dark. why has it happened, will it like, go away?
I thought things WERE things, but now it seems things are LIKE things.. i’m like, totally upset. i am very upset.

I thought we had to blame Frank Zappa – Valley Girl sort of made it known to the world outside OC?

i’ll have a listen, thanks for the info, …have no idea where it all began

if my 11 yr old son says ‘like’ more than once in a sentence I make him start again…

sorry to type LOL, but LOL that made me chuckle

America, doing wonderful things with the English language.
‘Like’, and the overuse of the word ‘fantastic’ are my two current biggest language hates.

Its almost like (note proper use of the word ‘like’) the entire population has forgotten every other word to describe something favourably.

I forgive Alan Hansen on MOTD though, even though he cannot help himself from saying ‘fan-tastic’ in every single sentence, he says it well.

I enjoyed hearing a conversation on a train recently which revolved around the use of the ‘like’ button in Facebook.
One sentence that stuck in my mind was:
“and they like, liked, my status”

I think you may be thinking of Stephen Fry’s expressed dislike of the tendency to make very sentence a question by raising inflection. He blamed that on Australians. He said it on room 101, I think.

No idea about the origins of the ‘like’ phenomenon, but it was popularized in the UK by Friends. It may ultimately be all Zappa’s fault. Much is.

I used to say the word “like” a lot when I was 14 years old. I think I used it as a pause in the same way others might say “umm” or Americans say “huh” although it does sound a bit stupid. Language evolves.

Like is often overused in the NE usually at the end of a sentence, like.

grody

to the max

I forgive Alan Hansen on MOTD though, even though he cannot help himself from saying ‘fan-tastic’ in every single sentence, he says it well.

Seems to be using ‘sensational’ a bit too much these days. Worth every penny of his £1.5m a year salary 😯

I, like, like this thread
or
I like, like, this thread

I have a pet hate of the word … Awesome.

Like, that’s totally awesome.

I only ever use it now, like, in an ironic way’ innit..

Seriously though, “like” is just a stall phrase. As someone said above, instead of umming and erring they ‘like’ or ‘ooookkkkaaaay’

Kind of thing, like, you know, isit.

chillax bro.

Actually the word ‘like’ is often used as a ‘stall’ phrase, but aren’t we talking about its use to mean ‘I said’*? As in ‘so I’m like, “wossyorproblemen” and she’s like, “yeah?” n I’m like “farqueue”‘. And so on. What about “you go girl”? That’s like, awesome.

* possibly not.

I reckon in that context it’ts still mostly being utilized where just a pause for breath, or more accurate word could be used, like, to better effect.

“like” on the end of a sentence has been around as long as I can remember in the S East of Scotland, and “but” in the west.

ken what ah mean? like?

like idave, I used to stop my daughter if she used “like” more than once in the same sentence, now I just need to give her a look and make it clear I’m ignoring her, she knows why, stops herself and starts the sentence again. 😀

or

I like, like, this thread?

I use it quite a lot, but then I’m younger, posher, and considerably better looking than you so I can get away with it.

Or if you’re London-based the correct pronunciation is “Em Leyk”

A while ago I hadn’t realised this habit had crept in to every day use, when when I was chatting with friends and said about my gf “Yeah, we **** like rabbits” I got some very strange looks!

A while ago I hadn’t realised this habit had crept in to every day use, when when I was chatting with friends and said about my gf “Yeah, we **** like rabbits” I got some very strange looks!

Like, LOL.

I’m even more upset with the proliferation of “loving”, “liking” etc.

“I’m loving it” (curse you McD)
“I’m liking it”

I’d like to know how and when it became acceptable to substitute conjugations of the verb “to say” with those of “to go”.

E.g. “So I said – I don’t think so somehow mate.”

and “So I went – I don’t think so somehow mate.”

or “So I goes – I don’t think so somehow mate.”

I’ve been using the word “totally” without really knowing I’m doing it. Again used as a stall rather than a description.. MrsBouy has pulled my up on it “totally” like..innit.

DS – always was like that where I grew up, in Herefordshire. So at least 30 years.

or “So I goes – I don’t think so somehow mate.”

Is that not taken from a welsh comedy?

Just makes people sound stupid. If you can’t form a sentence without having to prefix every other word with ‘like’ I’d rather you just kept quiet. 😉

If I may post my post from an unrelated thread earlier (slightly weirdly):

A personal bugbear is people’s overuse of the word ‘literally’ they don’t mean that at all, they mean quite the opposite! A friend pointed it out and now it really annoys me. Far worse than people saying ‘like’ or ‘y’know’ as hedge words!

“The car park was literally full of Audis”

No it wasn’t. There were a couple. Unless it was an Audi dealership, when it’s entirely possible.

“I literally flew down the trail”

Not unless you hit a tree stump at the top.

And breathe.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufYYOXiEtxM&feature=related[/video]

Gag me with a spoon….

It’s Shaggy from Scooby Doo, must be the MJ. I don’t mind it.

“Like Scoooob, old buddy old pal. I’m like totally in need of some scooby snacks.”

The upward inflection thing on the other hand. Have you held a conversation with a high school pupil these days? Our No. 1 does it as do all her friends “This one time, at band camp” with the upward inflection on ‘time’ and ‘camp’. I’m getting ranty just thinking of it. We took her and her pals out for her 14th birthday meal on Sunday and they all came back for a karaoke party afterwards. Man, we could hear them, it was tough. AAaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

I’ve always said “he goes”, “she goes” & “Ah goes” meaning “she/he/I said” 😳

it’s lazy gramma an ting innit? When we report what someone has said, we have to put the tenses back, change pronouns, adverbs of place, time etc.

Bob: “I’ll put this on here for you tomorrow”
Bob said he would put that on there for me the following day 😯

Much easier to say:

And Bob was like, “I’ll put this on here for you tomorrow”

zzz

edit: that was in reply to Nico rather than the OP

Like..old people whining…dull