Like, You know

[Bruce Wayne]

It is really hard to quit saying these words. The past few days I have made a concious effort to quit saying the work "like" and the phrase "you know." Even when I am talking to myself with no one around & cannot escape it. I pulled into the drivewayt he other day & I passed the mail lady on her way out. I got half way between my truck & the door when I realized I forgot to grab the mail. And I thought to myself "it's like I don't have a brain." I could of just said "as if I don't have a brain."

Does anyone else find it hard to quit saying these things?

Thanx!!!
Charlie

 

[shazzabanazza]

Its just part of the modern day vocabulary

 

[The Good]

I tend to say "as if" more often when I'm speaking with somebody, rather than "like..." I do use that word a fair amount, but I don't over-do it. I hardly even use "like" in that bland, juvenile way that plagues so many teenagers and young adults today. It sort of irritates me, but I can tolerate it though. I'll mind my own choice of words.

 

[Tomasso]

I was weened off like and you know at a very young age; Nuns and their rulers, you know.

But Lord knows I have a myriad of other linguistic crutches in my repertoire.....

 

[subject101]

I like like you know

 

[scottyrocks]

fer sure, like wow!

 

[rue]

After moving away from California, I unconsciously stopped doing it as much. Now if I could just stop cursing all the time.... I have a horrible habit of it.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I say "like" all the time. I run with it. I ain't above it. I say "ain't", too. And I curse like a sailor.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Like" was not part of my vocabulary growing up. But I still say "Ayuh" and "Yessah" and "Ain't that sumthin'" a lot, and as far as cussing goes, I don't think there's anyone alive who can out-foul my mother. Sailors, pirates, and drill sergeants blush when she opens her mouth.

 

[Mr. Hallack]

Since moving to Maine I have picked up "Wicked"

My brother makes fun of me everytime I talk to him on the phone. He still lives in California

 

[Puzzicato]

It is really hard to quit saying these words. The past few days I have made a concious effort to quit saying the work "like" and the phrase "you know." Even when I am talking to myself with no one around & cannot escape it. I pulled into the drivewayt he other day & I passed the mail lady on her way out. I got half way between my truck & the door when I realized I forgot to grab the mail. And I thought to myself "it's like I don't have a brain." I could of just said "as if I don't have a brain."

Does anyone else find it hard to quit saying these things?

Thanx!!!
Charlie

When you are actually making a simile, I have no problem with like. If you'd said "Hey mail lady, could I like get my mail like now?" I would have a problem with it.

 

[Feraud]

I like hearing regional differences in language.

 

[Yeps]

When you are actually making a simile, I have no problem with like. If you'd said "Hey mail lady, could I like get my mail like now?" I would have a problem with it.

I agree here. When you are using the word as intended, there is clearly no problem. When it is the same as 'um' it is annoying.

I think there is an interesting use that has arisen: that signifying an indirect quote. "So he was like, what are you talking about." It sounds just as annoying as like as a placeholder, but it serves an interesting function. The implication there is that those are not the exact words that he said, but rather the general idea. I am not sure of another word which serves that function.

 

[Atticus Finch]

From time to time I have to read transcripts of cases I have tried. God, is that painful. There, in black and white, are all the mindless things that I've said in open court...usually while I was thinking of something else to say. All of the, "ummmms"....and the, "you knows"....and the, "likes"....and the, "so what you're sayings" that I would never believe that I actually say, are undeniably, embarrassingly there in front of me.

AF

 

[rue]

Since moving to Maine I have picked up "Wicked"

My brother makes fun of me everytime I talk to him on the phone. He still lives in California

I still say y'all and sometimes will slip back into sort of a southern accent when I'm around southern people. I picked it up from living in Virginia for 6 years.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I still say y'all and sometimes will slip back into sort of a southern accent when I'm around southern people. I picked it up from living in Virginia for 6 years.

I'm terrible about picking up dialects -- I used to specialize in them when doing radio commercials, and I still find myself absorbing them if I'm around anyone else who speaks with one. I worked for ten years for a woman with a Received Pronunciation BBC accent, and anytime I'm around anyone British I find myself sliding into it without even thinking.

 

[Harp]

From time to time I have to read transcripts of cases I have tried. God, is that painful. There, in black and white, are all the mindless things... that I would never believe that I actually say, are undeniably, embarrassingly there in front of me.

AF

kinda like, you know, uhh staring at stare decisis?

 

[bunnyb.gal]

"Like" was not part of my vocabulary growing up. But I still say "Ayuh" and "Yessah" and "Ain't that sumthin'" a lot, and as far as cussing goes, I don't think there's anyone alive who can out-foul my mother. Sailors, pirates, and drill sergeants blush when she opens her mouth.

I can think of someone who may possibly out-foul your mother, and that's my mother! (She was in the military and almost did become a drill sergeant...) I'm sure this is why, to echo Rue's problem, expletives trip so readily off of my tongue decades after having moved from the parental home...

When I'm having one of those cussin' days, when I can't seem to help my "unladylike" comportment, I like to think of Carole Lombard, Ava Gardner, and Ann Sheridan, who were all reputed to have potty mouths, and I'm not so fussed.

What bothers me much more is when those "like", "ya know", "innit", "ya know whut I'm sayin'", and that ilk creep into my speech. I catch myself every so often saying them, and I can't bear it. Again, I think it's just from hearing it so constantly being said around me. If I ever, though, once, even once, say "Awesome", without referring to something which is truly awe-inspiring, you all have my permission to shoot me.

 

[Lady Day]

I made an effort a few years ago to filter my speech through my head for excess verbiage. Saying 'like' and 'uh' are often used to fill a needed pause. I had to make sure the inflections in my speech indicated what I was saying and justified that pause, then speak again.

It took some months, but I think I have a handle on it now.
I will use a strategically placed 'dude'. Often as a reset of a situation.

LD

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'm terrible about picking up dialects -- I used to specialize in them when doing radio commercials, and I still find myself absorbing them if I'm around anyone else who speaks with one. I worked for ten years for a woman with a Received Pronunciation BBC accent, and anytime I'm around anyone British I find myself sliding into it without even thinking.

I should think that such an ability would come in handy when traveling. It allows one to blend in more. Sometimes it could be discomforting when you travel some place and everybody knows where you're from the moment you open your mouth, When I was a kid I was a big Monty Python fan which is how I learned to speak with a British accent. It's so ingrained in me now that when I chat online with people in the UK, I often find myself writing in a "British accent": lapsing into Britspeak, spellings, grammar, etc. A bit of a funny, innit?

Another annoying word that I'd like to add to the lexicon is kinda. As in "I'm kinda busy," "I'm kinda tired," or "I'm kinda hungry." Either you are or you aren't. Then the annoyance factor is doubled when "I guess" is used in tandem with "kinda." i.e. "I guess I am kinda tired."