[Magdalen] Like I Was Puzzled.

[Grace Cangialosi]

Well now, Kate, at least one of those is totally regional, and it's the pop/soda divide.  I never heard it called soda until I was in PA after I graduated from high school and made the mistake of ordering a chocolate soda. What arrived was not a tall dish containing ice cream, seltzer, chocolate syrup, a long spoon and a straw, but a bottle and a glass!

> On Dec 4, 2014, at 9:22 AM, Kate Conant <kate.conant at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ​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.
>>