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The Linguistic Evolution of ‘Like’
- zbeat 10y agoFunny: I assumed (due to HN relevance?) the article was about the evolution of the Like button () on social networks. Guess it's time to step out of the filter bubble this morning!
- SubiculumCode 10y agoI clicked thinking the same but was pleasantly surprised to find, like, a really good article. I tried to stop myself.
- triangleman 10y agoThe author forgot the other common usage of like, that is, in storytelling: "I was like, what are you doing here?" The word prepares you for not only what was said, but what was felt and done and whatever else needs to be communicated. Unfortunately this usage of like is so useful that it is certainly over-used now, and we need to go back to using the proper verbs. But that is easier said than, uh, said!
- jonahrd 10y agoIt's in the last paragraph. I agree it was strange to leave it out of the rest of the article, emphasizing the "two" new usages of likes until a third was dropped in at the last moment.
- rickmode 10y agoIt was, like, totally there all along. Am I right?
- dionidium 10y agoThis style of storytelling isn't nearly as useful as you imply. "I asked him what he was doing here," works just as well -- better! -- and saves us all the amateur reenactment. Edit: I suspect there's something deeper going on here, which is that many of us have forgotten how to tell a story. Instead, we're just relaying what we remember of our own thoughts at the time. Instead of telling others what happened, we're reliving our own perspective of the experience in real time. Related, I think, is this weird new way of writing in which people tell us that they "decided" to do something before relaying each thing that happened. For example: "We decided to go to the beach for the day. After a while, we decided to grab some food. After lunch, we were all tired and decided to go home." Just tell us that you went to the beach, ate some lunch, and then left. I understand implicitly that you had to decide to do each thing before you did it.
- zzzzzzzzzman 10y agoAlso, "And I said to him, 'What are you doing here!'"
- criddell 10y agoIt's subjective and entirely in my head, but the cadence of "I was like, what are you doing here?" feels so much better to me than your version. The like version feels youthful whereas yours is tired. As always though, context is everything.
- zzzzzzzzzman 10y agoI actually completely agree, I would only use my version ("said to him") in formal/business settings where I am not very well-acquainted with the majority of listeners in the room! But, I would probably stray from saying "and I was like, omg lol yes I will happily take your money" when I'm telling one VC about my last round of funding from another VC ;)
- SamBam 10y ago"I asked him what he was doing here" is not the same. It is not necessarily better story-telling, as I think your edit implies. How many kids books -- or novels of any kind -- have only passive descriptions of what people said, as opposed to actually quoting the characters' words? Quoting is certainly a form of storytelling, and can often convey emotion more succinctly than needing to spell it out. "He was like 'okaaay...'" vs "He said it was ok, but in a sarcastic manner that implied he was not happy with it." But, distinct from an actual quote, ("And I said to him, 'What are you doing here!'", per the other poster), the quotative-like allows narrator freedom in a way that a direct quotation doesn't. The listener doesn't expect the words to be a literal quote, rather, the sense of what was said is enough, allowing the narrator to simplify, or to exaggerate for emphasis or comedic effect.
- waqf 10y agoThe Sanskrit word इति (iti), which literally means "thus" or "like this", can be used to offset direct or semi-direct speech (without needing a verb to make the meaning clear). In respects it's very similar to the English "I was like". Reference I just found: http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2010/09/english-like-can-like-function-like.html http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com/2010/09/english-like-can-lik...
- Declanomous 10y agoThe author tried to address this in the final paragraph, but I think they completely missed the point of the quotative like. When I use the quotative like (which I do often), I'm not quoting someone, I'm conveying meaning. For instance, I was out with my best friend disc golfing recently. He had just thrown his favorite disc when a dog that was off leash ran over and grabbed his disc. As the dog approached he started exclaiming. The dog was kind of paying attention to him, and went for his disc several times before grabbing it. I can't relate exactly what he said. It was something similar to "Hey! No! Don't! Don't grab my disc! No! For the love of God, NO! WHY!?" Despite my best efforts, that quote is wholly inaccurate. When I related the story to his wife, I used the following syntax: "And he was like 'No! NO! Nooooooooooooooooooooo!' as the dog grabbed his disc." Had I claimed my friend had "said" that, he could have rightfully objected, as it wasn't a true representation of what he said. However, my recollection accurately captured the panic as the dog ran over to his disc, and the despair that was immediately apparent as the dog grabbed his disc. Using the quotative like allows me to acknowledge my unreliability as a narrator, while also conveying my interpretation of the events more truthfully and quickly than would be possible if I were actually quoting what happened. A long argument could be related using the following syntax and everyone would still have an idea of what happened, without losing any of the emotional impact that a more dispassionate non-quotative telling would have: "I was like 'yes' and they were like 'no' and I was like 'but yes' and they were like 'but no' and I was like, 'I'm not going anywhere until this is resolved' and they were like 'well OK'." Anyways, I think the author kind of missed the boat on that one, since I think it's the most versatile use of the word like, and the one that is most easily misunderstood.
- waqf 10y ago
- chias 10y ago> not only what was said, but what was felt and done and whatever else needs to be communicated I think or is more appropriate here than and, which undermines its utility: "I was like, what are you doing here?" does not indicate whether the protagonist actually said this, or communicated it in some other way, or even just thought it and didn't communicate it at all. "this bad looking dude came in and I was like, 'What the hell are you doing here?'" "whoa, you said that to his face?!" "well... no... I more sort of thought it at him"
- jonahrd 10y agoLoved this article! It reminds me of my middle school English teacher, who enforced a 'no-like zone' (in good humor). Every time anyone noticed the usage of like other than the old 'proper' usage, you'd get another tally added to your name. I think it was a great idea, not because I'm worried about the new usage of the word like, but because it forced all of us to think carefully about our word choice when speaking in that class.
- thesagan 10y agoRelated to this: I've also noticed that the word "so" is used a lot to terminate a sentence, maybe as a hesitation to stop speaking, or to (intentionally?) leave the final "point" somewhat ambiguous. E.g.: "You bet! He did this, then that, and so... yeah!" (sometimes another word like "yeah" follows "so") I'm guilty of it. ;)
- hfsktr 10y agoI have noticed that many sentences start with Yeah, at least for me. Usually around friends when there has been a silence. I always wondered if it was regional or just a weird thing I do, like affirming something before I said it out loud.
- rbritton 10y agoAnother: In live commentary, particularly with interviews, watch how many people start sentences with "I mean, ..."
- rch 10y agoHow about people beginning a sentence with "it's interesting, ..."
- criddell 10y agoI've noticed a huge rise in people staring a response with "to be honest" or just "honestly".
- iamatworknow 10y agoA large number of my sentences begin with "To be [adjective]" or "In all [noun]". "To be fair" and "In all honesty" (and combinations thereof) come up quite a bit.
- criddell 10y agoDo you talk like that as well? I used to pepper my comments with phrases like "to be honest" but I never use it in speech. I've tried to eliminate it recently because it usually isn't needed.
- Odenwaelder 10y agoLike, uh, finds a way.
- SubiculumCode 10y agoI feel that like is often used as a verbal em dash, for emphasis and interruption.Once I understoid their intended usages I love the — em dash – en dash and - hyphen
- pklausler 10y agoIt's very much akin to the SV habit of starting a sentence with "So, ...". It's a helpful key that you don't really have to pay much attention to what follows.
- sndean 10y agoI've actually been called out multiple times for starting sentences with "I don't know..." It took a while, but I've realized it's one way for me to allow my mouth catch up with my brain. Like a buffer period for me to make sure I'm saying what I'm thinking. Otherwise my words become oddly jumbled and nonsensical. Maybe it might be better if that buffer period was just silence.
- asdfasdfa11112 10y agoExcept that also serves as a placeholder for your turn to speak. I frequently find myself taking an extra second to think before I speak only to have my turn pass me by, because someone else started up right away.
- sndean 10y agoThis happens to me all the time. Possibly every day. And normally the conversation just keeps moving. Maybe it's an introvert thing.
- iamed2 10y ago"Ordinary people, too, have long been using like as an appendage to indicate similarity with a trace of hesitation. The “slow-like” kind of usage is a continuation of this, and Saul Bellow has thoroughly un- Beatnik characters in his novels of the 1950s use like in a way we would expect a decade or two later. “That’s the right clue and may do me some good. Something very big. Truth, like,” says Tommy Wilhelm in 1956’s Seize the Day," My grandfather uses "like" often, but only in this way (he grew up in Depression-era semi-rural Canada). I've always found that interesting since I rarely see that usage mentioned. Anyone else have older relatives who use "like" this way?
- Declanomous 10y agoI've spent a lot of time in rural Wisconsin and Minnesota, and that particular usage of the word like is still common, even among younger individuals. My roommate in college was from a really small town in Minnesota, and he'd describe things as "All [adjective]-like". He used like in the other manners as well though.
- ende 10y agoYou see this usage commonly around parts of England, particularly among some of the northwestern dialects like Scouse.
- Declanomous 10y agoInteresting. My roommate is from somewhere in northern England; I'll have to pay attention for this in the future. His parents speak with received pronunciation though, so I suspect he has fewer colloquialisms in his speech than the general population of wherever he's from. He contends that his accent and figures of speech wouldn't be recognized as English at this point, but every American I know pegs him as British almost instantly, so who knows.
- pc2g4d 10y agoHan Solo: "Then we'll do it real quiet like". Return of the Jedi.
- corv 10y agoThe modern usage of "like" is utterly disgusting.
- pc2g4d 10y agoI respect the descriptive impulse to see the function of 'like' rather than just mocking it. However, I'm not entirely convinced of the two senses of 'like' that the author sees. I imagine similarly nebulous arguments could be made for many other sense of like, which is why the analysis of 'like' as a hedge word or hesitation still might be the best.
- tempestn 10y agoEven more relevant than usual: https://xkcd.com/1483/ https://xkcd.com/1483/
- jv22222 10y agoInteresting that it doesn't really mention the social media use of the word "Like" aka the Facebook Like button. That was what I was expecting the article to be about. But it was overall a good read.
- rajeshp1986 10y agoI was once sitting in a cafe & overheard the conversation of a group of people sitting on the next table. There was a girl who was super excited to share how her weekend was to her friend. She used "like" at least 1829 time in 2 minutes. It was a machine gun spitting "like" bullets. Thereafter I started hating the "like" word. whenever someone uses "like" more often than it should be then I feel "like" he is trying to kill me with "like" bullets.