[Magdalen] Like I Was Puzzled.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

It is so amusing to see how folks bend over backwards to be tolerant about
something like one's religious convictions and have no tolerance for
varying preferences in language.

I guess language is far more important than specificity of religious tenets.

Language is evolving and we don't get to critique it or stop it.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

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.
> > >>
> >
>