Whether you regard yourself as a scholar of linguistics or a self proclaimed language snob鈥攜ou鈥檝e probably, at least once, crossed over to the dark side and used the word like in a sentence where it, like, doesn鈥檛 belong.
Narrowly escaping the grammar police, you catch yourself, cringe, and promise never again! This usage of like is known as a slang interjection. This form as well as聽the聽adverbial use dates back a lot further than you might think, though.
Valley girl speak
Many people believe Moon Unit Zappa and her 1982 single Valley Girl are responsible for popularizing this usage of like precisely at the moment聽Ms. Zappa sang, 鈥淚t鈥檚 like, barf me out.鈥� This聽sociolect that the song celebrates, Valspeak, originates in Southern California.
Like in pop culture
In reality, the slang use of the word like has been a part of popular culture dating as far back as 1928 and a cartoon in the New Yorker that depicts two women discussing a man鈥檚 workspace with a text that reads, 鈥満诹贤�檚 he got 鈥� an awfice?鈥� 鈥淣o, he鈥檚 got like a loft.鈥� The word pops up again in 1962鈥檚 A Clockwork Orange as the narrator proclaims, 鈥淚, like, didn鈥檛 say anything.鈥� The notorious usage of like appeared as linguistic filler as early as the 19th century with the following passage in Robert Louis Stevenson鈥檚 1886 novel Kidnapped: 鈥�’黑料网鈥檚 like wrong with him?鈥� said she at last.鈥�Like is an extensible word that can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, and interjection. 黑料网 uses of 鈥渓ike鈥� do you think are acceptable and which should be discouraged?
