5 ms·

Hitchens examines the, like, unstoppable onslaught of "like."

31 points by robg 17y ago

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Grampa wants you to, like, get off his lawn. Also: > The restoration of the word 'as,' which isn’t that hard a word to master, along with 'such as,' would also be a help in varying the national lingo. Instantly reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww > Everywhere, like, such as.
- robg 17y ago
  The thing is: I submitted a bunch of interesting (to me) links this morning and this is the one to get front-page attention. I don't understand the difference. Indeed, this seemed to me to be the most superficial among them. But with my wife and I recently wondering how "like" entered our own speech patterns, it interested me.
  - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
    I can't comment on the collective voting pattern on HN, but my objection to Hitchens' piece is that he buries what might have been an interesting etymology of "like" under a mountain of prescriptive humbug.
    - robg 17y ago
      Fair enough. But that is Hitchens. You didn't have to click the link to know that's his MO.
      - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
        Ah, Hitchens. The right wing can have him. :)
foldr 17y ago
I'm not really seeing the point of this article. I had already noticed that people are saying "like" a lot, and Hitchens doesn't do anything beyond making this observation. And he really can't do anything beyond that because he doesn't know anything about language, language change or syntax. (Although to be fair, these are not normally considered necessary qualifications for writing on this subject.) Anyone who's actually interested in the grammar of "like" would be better off reading something by someone who knows what they are talking about. E.g. this: http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820 http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820
- gruseom 17y ago
  Hitchens doesn't do anything beyond making this observation I don't think that's fair. He wove a lot of observations into the piece. Hitchens is a man of letters, not an academic linguist. He carries on that tradition as well as anyone, and while I disagree with him about a lot of things (who, besides him, doesn't?), boy oh boy can he write.
  - foldr 17y ago
    >He wove a lot of observations into the piece. In what sense were they "observations"? I did see a lot of assertions about people's use of language that weren't backed up by any data, but I didn't see any observations. >Hitchens is a man of letters, not an academic linguist. I guess my question would be whether you'd be equally happy if he wrote in the same style about (say) physics, geology or programming. Is there something special about language that makes it unnecessary for commentators to know anything about their subject? And really, the article is about like, for goodness sake. There are literally thousands of grumpy, contentless articles of this sort written over the past couple decades.
pavel_lishin 17y ago
I know that it's been a full decade since the 90's, but you can't just pull out an old article and recycle it like that. What next? The danger of hippies? The threat of rock'n'roll?
Luc 17y ago
'This.' That is my current annoyance. I don't know where it started, but since a few weeks 'this' seems to be turning up in more and more places. I really can't parse it, but I think it means agreement with the previous comment, sort of like an upvote. It bugs the hell out of me. Random example: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=875816 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=875816
- seiji 17y ago
  Basically: http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/110229.html http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/110229.html Best I can figure, people just saying "This" mean "I agree with your above point, and I would like to see it expressed more often. Let me lend my support to you in spreading your ideas."
  - roc 17y ago
    "I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter". Honestly it doesn't bother me. It's just a modernization of the "hear, hear" sentiment.
  - iron_ball 17y ago
    Yeah. Extreme contraction of "I agree with this." It's just a new idiom.
- freetard 17y ago
  This.
jvdh 17y ago
Overheard in Pompei (Italy), one american teens describing the scene of the ruins to another: "It's like like like like." (Yes, I am serious, and so was he)
- kilian 17y ago
  Somehow this reminds me of "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo...) which I also can't wrap my head around :)
  - roc 17y ago
    Is that that that that you were talking about?
    - philwelch 17y ago
      Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put two hyphens between the words Fish and And, and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, and also after Chips?
dgabriel 17y ago
Reminds me of this spoken word piece from Def Poetry Jam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmLE2bliXCI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmLE2bliXCI

31 points by robg 17y ago

Grampa wants you to, like, get off his lawn. Also: > The restoration of the word 'as,' which isn’t that hard a word to master, along with 'such as,' would also be a help in varying the national lingo. Instantly reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww > Everywhere, like, such as.

robg 17y ago
The thing is: I submitted a bunch of interesting (to me) links this morning and this is the one to get front-page attention. I don't understand the difference. Indeed, this seemed to me to be the most superficial among them. But with my wife and I recently wondering how "like" entered our own speech patterns, it interested me.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  I can't comment on the collective voting pattern on HN, but my objection to Hitchens' piece is that he buries what might have been an interesting etymology of "like" under a mountain of prescriptive humbug.
  - robg 17y ago
    Fair enough. But that is Hitchens. You didn't have to click the link to know that's his MO.
    - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
      Ah, Hitchens. The right wing can have him. :)

foldr 17y ago

I'm not really seeing the point of this article. I had already noticed that people are saying "like" a lot, and Hitchens doesn't do anything beyond making this observation. And he really can't do anything beyond that because he doesn't know anything about language, language change or syntax. (Although to be fair, these are not normally considered necessary qualifications for writing on this subject.) Anyone who's actually interested in the grammar of "like" would be better off reading something by someone who knows what they are talking about. E.g. this: http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820 http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820

gruseom 17y ago
Hitchens doesn't do anything beyond making this observation I don't think that's fair. He wove a lot of observations into the piece. Hitchens is a man of letters, not an academic linguist. He carries on that tradition as well as anyone, and while I disagree with him about a lot of things (who, besides him, doesn't?), boy oh boy can he write.
- foldr 17y ago
  >He wove a lot of observations into the piece. In what sense were they "observations"? I did see a lot of assertions about people's use of language that weren't backed up by any data, but I didn't see any observations. >Hitchens is a man of letters, not an academic linguist. I guess my question would be whether you'd be equally happy if he wrote in the same style about (say) physics, geology or programming. Is there something special about language that makes it unnecessary for commentators to know anything about their subject? And really, the article is about like, for goodness sake. There are literally thousands of grumpy, contentless articles of this sort written over the past couple decades.

pavel_lishin 17y ago

I know that it's been a full decade since the 90's, but you can't just pull out an old article and recycle it like that. What next? The danger of hippies? The threat of rock'n'roll?

Luc 17y ago

'This.' That is my current annoyance. I don't know where it started, but since a few weeks 'this' seems to be turning up in more and more places. I really can't parse it, but I think it means agreement with the previous comment, sort of like an upvote. It bugs the hell out of me. Random example: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=875816 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=875816

seiji 17y ago
Basically: http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/110229.html http://qcjeph.livejournal.com/110229.html Best I can figure, people just saying "This" mean "I agree with your above point, and I would like to see it expressed more often. Let me lend my support to you in spreading your ideas."
- roc 17y ago
  "I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter". Honestly it doesn't bother me. It's just a modernization of the "hear, hear" sentiment.
- iron_ball 17y ago
  Yeah. Extreme contraction of "I agree with this." It's just a new idiom.
freetard 17y ago
This.

jvdh 17y ago

Overheard in Pompei (Italy), one american teens describing the scene of the ruins to another: "It's like like like like." (Yes, I am serious, and so was he)

kilian 17y ago
Somehow this reminds me of "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo...) which I also can't wrap my head around :)
- roc 17y ago
  Is that that that that you were talking about?
  - philwelch 17y ago
    Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put two hyphens between the words Fish and And, and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, and also after Chips?

dgabriel 17y ago

Reminds me of this spoken word piece from Def Poetry Jam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmLE2bliXCI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmLE2bliXCI