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Any idea how "like" came to be used this way (see below)?
"Like, if you could, you know, like, tell me, I'd really, like, appreciate it."
Here's what I found on dictionary.com
like
–interjection
25.
Informal . (used esp. in speech, often nonvolitionally or habitually, to preface a sentence, to fill a pause, to express uncertainty, or to intensify or neutralize a following adjective): Like, why didn't you write to me? The music was, like, really great, you know?
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc.
Slang Dictionary
like definition
1. interj.
an emphatic or meaningless word that, when said frequently, marks the speaker as speaking in a very casual or slangy mode. (See also like, you know. Used in writing only for effect.) : This is, like, so silly!
2. interj.
a particle meaning roughly saying. (Always with some form of be. Never used in formal writing.) : And I'm like, “Well, you should have put your hat on!â€
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
I originally knew "like" only in your interjection 1; as Bob notes a synonym for "uh".
Then, there was a Star Trek episode I saw that explained interjection meaning #2. The captain had to learn how to communicate with a being that only spoke in allegories.
Kind of like learning how to communicate with Valley Girls of the '90s, or kids today.
And now I am all like, he's said EVERYTHING on THIS topic.
As Bob Bridges said, it seems to be one of those pauses that we feel the need to fill with sound. It seems, and this is pure supposition, that it was something originated in the place culture goes to die: Southern California. I say that because I went to school in Southern California in the late 80s and early 90s, and when I later went to school in the Midwest, everyone said I talked like a "valley girl" (and they said it with authority that could have been gained only from watching "Beverly Hills: 90210" or "Melrose Place"). I think I said it quite often then, but now, when I catch myself using it in conversation, I notice -- and I appropriately self-flagellate later. (Long ago I took to the Christopher Walken school of giving speeches -- unnecessarily long dramatic pauses --, so I've mostly given up my "likes" and "ums".)
Butch said:
It seems that "like" has also come to mean "said", as: "So he was like 'I'm not going with you'". Like totally…
Yes, over the years, there have been several transitions for informally recounting dialog–from having said things (He said, "Black," and I said "White."), to saying things (So he says, "Day", and then I says, "Night"), to going things (He goes to me, "Phooey!", so I goes to him, "Nuts!"), to being like things (He was like, "No way," and I was like, "Way!").
Liberal sprinklings of "like" were central to any imitation of Beatniks/jazz aficionados, as typified by Bob Denver's Maynard G. Krebs character's greeting of his friend Dobie Gillis: "Like, hi, Dobe." That was, what, late 50s, early 60s? I certainly remember hearing, and using, the expression "Like, wow, man." during that period. Still do, occasionally, but only for my own amusement.
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