Verbal hiccups: The L Word

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Just a small thing I've noticed over the years.

Every once in a while I'll be exposed to some second-hand chatter while walking to class or having lunch. It's usually two or more girls. I often catch myself counting every utterance of the word "like" in their conversations (on average, 3-4 times a sentence).

Here's a snippet: "Like, in lab today, we had like, a pop quiz, so I was like, 'hell no', cause, like I totally forgot about reading chapter 5."

So many young people say "like" so often these days that it has to be some kind of highly contagious virus. I seem to have a natural immunity to it. Social butterflies tend to be the most likely to catch it. And it doesn't seem to strike until puberty. Also very widespread among undergraduates. There is also a certain sing-songy cadence that accompanies this "like-speech" that's hard to describe in words.

I'm not so much annoyed by it as I am intrigued. It's as if this like meme has gotten an almost Tourette's-like hold on the inflicted.

Are you or do you know someone who says "like" more than necessary? What's wrong with "um" or "ah?"

Geeze I took this post heading totally wrong, but nonetheless...

I've seen a lot of that type of thing go in and out of style over the years. I still use the word "man" an awful lot. Of course I curse about ever other word too, but those are just short cuts and they actually bring up a bit of emotion. If I were using the correct wordage, I wouldn't feel the intensity of it as much. And, man, am I addicted to intensity.

I thought you meant the L word, Love. It's still a hard word for me to say, even when I feel it inside.

I actually took it to mean "the L word" in reference to the television show.

Using filler words (like, man, um, y'know) gives you an advantage in conversation--it keeps you from losing the floor. If you pause to further organize what you were planning to say, someone else might jump in, thinking you were done (even if you were in mid-sentence).

Filler words in general mean that the individual hasn't really planned what s/he is saying, just running at the mouth. I think younger people are more prone to that. Or older people are less tolerant of being cut off.

Like, ohmigawd, like I am so like sick of the word like, yanno? Like all the kids in my school, like, say it about a million times a day and dude, well, like, I just want to, like, yanno, bash them over the head....Like, this started in the early 70s when I was a teenager and now, like, I work in a school, like, man...and it hasn't gone away. And I'm NOT immune cuz it's in my teenage blood, like, and even though I'm almost 50 years old, well, you know, you can take the girl out of the valley, but like, no way ,dude, can you take the valley out of the girl.

It is hella obnoxious but not as bad as all the guys calling each other n***a no matter their ethnicity. Some kids at my school have even called me n***a as in "Hey, Ms. _____, what up my n***a?"

Like no s**t.

In Swedish terms there are words "typ", "liksom", "alltså" that are very common, kinda like "like". (Wait, did I just say "like" twice in a row?) I must admit I use these words a lot, since they can buy time until I can come up with something good to say.