Edited by Aahana Banerjee
Why do people, especially boomers and millennials, hate us for using the word ‘like’ in our speech? I wish I knew what they could possibly have against a word as multifaceted and multidimensional as this. Recently, a potential employer, a man in his mid-forties with a very strong ‘I come from an Ivy-League’ accent, commented on my usage of the word ‘like.’ Very patronizingly, he said, “I see potential in you, and that’s why I am avoiding your incoherent sentences but you must practice not using filler words in your speech. Otherwise, people will write you off as another stupid teen girl.” I simply don’t understand what is wrong with saying simple sentences and having candid conversations. In this article, I am going to defend the word ‘like’ and its abundant usage in my speech because I didn’t get a chance to do so in front of that old man.
He mentioned that I shouldn’t be using a lot of filler words in my sentences for two apparent reasons. One, that they jeopardize the listener’s understanding, and two, that they make it seem as if the speaker does not know what they are talking about. I understand why this might be the case. I can’t possibly be giving an interview and saying ‘um’ seventeen times in two sentences. But that’s the thing, I wasn’t doing that. Instead, I was using the word ‘like’ to change my tonality when stating something that was not an original thought. The usage of the word here was strategic and convenient. It marked a pause as well as signified that my train of thoughts was proceeding in a new direction. If anything, using ‘like’ allowed me to effectively transition between sentences which would’ve resulted in better understanding on the part of the listener.
According to linguistics, filler words are meaningless and have no dictionary definition. However, ‘like’ has two very evident meanings specified in the dictionary, which are to be attracted to or enjoy something, and to be similar to or comparable to something. Moreover, it can be used as a noun, an adverb, an adjective, a preposition, as well as a conjunction. Apart from these uses, it can also act as a hedge or an intensifier of something. Then, it is safe to say that a word as versatile as this cannot be called a filler word. Even if it were one, what is the harm in using it? Why discourage something that probably makes your speech more genuine, less rehearsed, and gives the listener more space to connect with what you are saying?
What infuriates me the most is that the man didn’t just comment on my use of filler words, but he associated it with something a stupid teen girl would do. The stereotype of teen girls using the word ‘like’ unnecessarily prevails so widely that even pop culture is plagued by it. In most teenage romantic comedies, the girl who uses the word ‘like’ a lot in her sentences is usually the academically backward cheerleader, and the girl with precise and coherent sentences is the class nerd with spectacles. Obviously, the latter is shown to have more value than the former. Sociolinguist D’Arcy says, “Like is a little word that we really, really don’t like at all — and we want to blame young girls, who we think are destroying the language.” However, the truth is that the word ‘like’ is an excellent quotative, and is used by men and women alike. I don’t see what the problem is in representing double-quotes through the word ‘like’ in my speech which maintains the authenticity of what someone is saying. D’Arcy also mentions that the usage of the word ‘like’ as a quotative isn’t a modern one. Instead, old people in their 80s and 90s in little villages in the UK use the word ‘like’ in apparently the same way as young girls do.
I really like the word ‘like,’ and believe that it receives hatred that it doesn’t deserve at all. I don’t know if I have done justice in defending it, but I have sure tried my best to explain its versatility. Now, do me a favor, and please share this with everyone who makes a face when you say something that has ‘like’ in it. And, if they ask you to stop using the word, simply ask them which form of it they are talking about.