Comments on: “Was Like”

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Fri, 19 Mar 2004 21:42:23 +0000

You spelled the word “word” wrong. Instead you wrote “world”. Oh and I like your story.

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 23:31:47 +0000

Ah, yes. As a child of the 80′s, I’m now 21 and still can’t seem to eliminate that little word entirely from my vocabulary–and mind you, I am SUCH a stickler about spelling and grammar and always have been! I have friends who are far worse about using it as well.
Frankly, my biggest language pet peeve is with people who are 15, 30, 50 years old and still can’t use proper spelling and/or grammar….I’m still trying to figure out how one can speak a language natively (sometimes as their only language) for their entire life and never actually learn to use it fluently. Why do I know people who’ve only been speaking English for a couple years who are far better at it than many people I know who have been speaking it 15 or 20+ years??

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:50:43 +0000

My 13 year old daughter knows that you have to adjust your behavior according to where you are and who you are with. For example an “outdoor voice” is inappropriate in church, and large amounts of slang aren’t used when talking with teachers, grandparents, etc.
I allow her to use most of her slang at home, I want to keep track of what is going on in her life and allow her to be her own person. But I have found a quick way to discourage her from driving me crazy with incessant use of each knew slang word she adds to her vocabulary.
When she somes home with the newest phrase and uses it constantly, I wait a couple of weeks (or as long as I can stand to) and then purposely use it as often as I can whenever I talk to her. She usually laughs and informs me that I am saying it wrong (I don’t use the right inflection) and then gradually she will say it less often around me. OR, she will say, “You can’t use that, that’s mine!!!” (certain slang terms identify who your group of friends are!) and she quits using it around me in order to get me to quit saying it!!! So far she hasn’t figured out my strategy. I do it subtly so that it sounds like I am trying to be cool, just like her. It seems to be working well.

By: Deepak Mankar

Deepak Mankar — Wed, 27 Aug 2003 08:50:46 +0000

I find young people in urban India using “was like” and its various cousins in the firm belief that it’s the hep thing to do probably because the sloppy young Americans they watch admiringly on the idiot box do so. In advertising where I work, a lot of young copy cubs do it all the time. As I’m neither their parent nor their teacher, I tend not to correct them. But I go like “Yechhhhh!” inside every time.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 19:09:30 +0000

My comment has nothing to do with teenagers or the word, “like.” I’ve just been waiting for an opportunity to ask somebody about another language problem I’ve been noticing in published (and, I assume, edited) new books. That’s a complete ignoring of the past tense of the verb, “to lay,” in uses not involving chickens or other birds. Example: “She lay her hand next to his.” An excellent new Texas novelist with two books now has used “lay” incorrectly all the way through both books, but she is not the only one doing this. What’s with this (mis)usage?

By: Tracy

Tracy — Fri, 25 Jul 2003 14:36:11 +0000

I have also been fighting the incorrect usage of words. I tell my classes and my kids that I understand that to fit with your friends you want to talk that way. So we go over the correct way to speak and I ask tham to repeat the slang in English to see if they can do it corectly. I tell tham anyone can talk the talk but it takes someone who cares and is intelligent to speak correctly. Every time one of my kids or students uses the word suck to mean stinks or the hundreds of other words that could be substituted I have them do just that. Write me X sentences using words that say what you really mean.

By: Peter Schmedding

Peter Schmedding — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 02:32:19 +0000

Like (oh, that word again…) many other languages, English is evolving and changing with the time. But even so, there are certain standards of good and proper English.
I often have suggested to my young people that they might have to consider being bi-lingual in the sense that they have to master the proper use of the language, but also be able to converse with their less tolerant peers, using their way of speaking. After all, everyone wants to be accepted rather than being labeled a snob or similar. And that is important, too.

By: Isaac

Isaac — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 00:05:15 +0000

I know what you mean by saying “LIKE” the word “LIKE” !I remember a few times today I said “like” that word I don’t know how many times!!! I “LIKE” like what you wrote.
Isaac Lee Cable

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 19:54:03 +0000

The phrases you have listed are extremely hard to banish form my vocabulary. I loathe them. “Like,” He/ she’s all….”, “totally” I’ve heard these from many different people. I can’t stand them. I’m proud to be a seventh generation Californian, not sound like a twenty something Californian.
the one that drove me over the edge was “for reals??” This statement became the new ‘thing’ shortly after I noticed myself wanting to gravitate towards people who spoke properly. What’s worse is hering people in their mid twenties still speaking as if they’re freshmen in high school trying to be hip. The straw that broke the camel’s back, while in Santa Barbara I heard young men saying “Late instead of “Later”.. formerly known as “See you later” Upon returning to Northern California my friends were already saying “‘Late” That was the final straw.
Best of Luck on keeping these out of your children’s mouths.

By: Mary Jo

Mary Jo — Wed, 23 Jul 2003 18:22:31 +0000

How about, like, the way all sentences sound like end in a question? Even when they’re not questions? Like, what’s up with that?