[Magdalen] Like I Was Puzzled.

[Charles Wohlers]

"Soda" vs. "Pop" is a standard regional thing. It's "pop" in the Midwest, 
but "soda" in the northeast and California. In Boston (always different) 
it's "tonic".

I guess you'll just have to move back to Michigan if you want folks to say 
"pop".

http://www.popvssoda.com

And -

You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either Neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off.

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnf5HnW8C4E
(Is that Lester Young on tenor?)

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com



-----Original Message----- 
From: Kate Conant
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2014 9:22 AM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Like I Was Puzzled.

​What irks me:

People saying "soda" for "pop", "issue" for "problems", "impact" for
"affect (v)" or "effect (n)", "nY-ther" for "neither", "Y-ther" for
"either",  "Ah" for "I", 20  items "or less" for "or fewer" and "behavioral
health" for "brain disorder".




"What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love mercy, and walk
humbly with your God?"
Micah 6:8

On Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 7:22 AM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com> wrote:

> Oh my gosh, Grace. That reminds me of a classmate in our Psych Masters
> group who made up an all-purpose therapy response. Went something like:
>
> So, as I understand you there, you're saying that in some way, at some
> level, you feel.....
>
> AARGH!! Thank goodness for narrative therapy and goodbye to All That.
>
> I quite like the use of "go" for "say" or "said". As a habit  it can be
> most annoying, but I enjoy the way it captures the game-like aspects of
> verbal communication. I think of it as "having a go" (as in a board game)
> or "fair go" as the Australians say.
>
> Sally
>
> On Thursday, 4 December 2014, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > LOL, Sally!
> >
> > What I find somewhat puzzling is the way it gets used to describe a
> > conversation. I mean, I kind of get its use to place the speaker
> somewhere,
> > as in "I was, like, going to the store."
> >
> > But I don't get
> > "Well, I was like, 'How was your date last night?' And she was like,
> 'He's
> > cute, but really boring," and I was like...    Well you get it.
> >
> > The other usage that intrigues me is the use of "go" instead of "say."
> >
> > "So I go 'Did you watch the game?' and he goes, 'No, I had to go 
> > shopping
> > with my dad.' and I go....
> >
> > Then there's beginning every question and response with "so."  I hear
> that
> > all the time in NPR interviews.
> >
> > Grace, sometime curmudgeon when it comes to language, grammar and
> > punctuation
> >
> > > On Dec 3, 2014, at 3:56 PM, Sally Davies <sally.davies at gmail.com
> > <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > >
> > > Pervasive here, too. This habit started, I guess, with kids and
> teenagers
> > > but has spread to older generations and from wherever it originated
> > > (California? London?) to a wide variety of English speaking contexts.
> > >
> > > The usual form here is "I was like...".
> > >
> > > I think that people have taken to this expression because it is
> somewhat
> > > distancing and seems not to commit one to a truth position. I was 
> > > "like
> > > that" - but I wasn't "that".  Maybe it's too much of a stretch to
> > conclude
> > > something about the culture in which such tentative self-positioning
> > seems
> > > to thrive...?
> > >
> > > "After that, I replied...", or "and then, I did X"  sounds not only
> more
> > > formal but more documentary! The "I was like" OTOH, avoids the bother
> of
> > > finding the right verb. It sets up a sentence (if one could call it
> that)
> > > which could go anywhere. I could be, like, saying something, or it's
> > like I
> > > could have done something, or maybe I could even be, like so wasted I
> > can't
> > > actually recall what I was like.
> > >
> > > And sad/denialist as it may be, when you hang around with kids enough
> of
> > > the time, you do, like, start borrowing their expressions in
> > self-defence...
> > >
> > > Language evolves...or maybe unravels...
> > >
> > > Sally D
> > >
> > > On Wednesday, 3 December 2014, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
> > > magdalen at herberthouse.org <javascript:;>> wrote:
> > >
> > >>
> > >> I've had several people visiting my home recently whose every other
> > >> sentence
> > >> begins with "Like I was...." of some such.  These were not teenagers,
> > but
> > >> adults in their 40's and 50's.
> > >>
> > >> I've been aware of this rage for describing usually something in the
> > past
> > >> with descriptions beginning with "Like", but I wasn't aware such
> usage
> > >> has crept so far into the general USA population.  I have no clue
> about
> > >> this
> > >> phenomenon in other English speaking areas of the world.
> > >>
> > >> This "like" business has become chronic and pervasive in the USA, and
> > >> my question is about whether this is a fad, or marks  a chronic 
> > >> change
> > >> in spoken English.  If it is long term, it demonstrates a
> > trivialization
> > >> of
> > >> the language IMHO.
> > >>
> > >> Anyone have any thoughts about this "like" usage and predictions
> about
> > >> its continued usage?
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> David S.
> > >>
> >
>