The most misused word in the English language has got to be "like." I throw up my hands in horror, I use expletives, I want to kick people and throw things when I hear how it is peppered throughout so many conversations today. Usually, I have to admit, the people concerned are young, which is not to say I feel violent towards young people. It is just that I want them to stop sticking "like" into every utterance as though it was a punctuation mark of some significance, or a meaningful addition to the dialogue. It is not, when used this way, it has lost its true meaning and become a thoughtless, superfluous little wretch of a word, poor thing.
This misuse does nothing to enhance clarity of meaning or actual communication. Take for example, this little exchange, overheard recently on the bus:
"And, like, I said to her, and like she said to me, what do you think, like, is happening here? Then she goes, like, I don't know, like, do you have any like idea? And I went like, well, maybe, like, her mom was like grounding her, like for like a week or like, even two."
After editing the "like" word out of all this and coming to terms with the incorrect use of "goes" and "went," I gathered that the two girls were discussing a conversation one had held with another girl about the absence of yet another girl! Boy, did it take a while to decipher that code. However, using "like" in this way is perfectly normal within the dialect of the Scousers, native-born Liverpudlians, whose colorful and witty English is liberally sprinkled with "like," with no detrimental effects on communication. Once the ear becomes attuned to the cadence and rhythm of that accent, dialect and colloquialisms, it all becomes perfectly clear.
"Like" is such a very versatile little word, when used in the correct context. It has vast potential for use in correct English, being an adjective, a verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction and noun. Look in any dictionary and see for yourself. Another modern phenomenon of the use of"like" which is not incorrect, but is one that smacks of lazy thinking and even lazier speech. Yet it has become an acceptable, almost jokey statement, universally understood, part of the modern colloquial additions to the language.
"What are you LIKE?"
This can be interpreted as having various meanings behind the word and is usually delivered with sarcastic or humorous intent. This overarching question asks one person to take a look at what they have done, or to rethink what they have said, and sometimes expresses shock, admiration, disbelief, humour and so on, without actually stating these reactions by using the correct words. There is no doubt that these four little words have taken their place in the lexicon of English, having become a shortcut to expressing more than they suggest.
So who knows, maybe those youthful misusers of "like" are actually very clever, secretly working their little vocal apparatus and developing intellect in order to contribute to the linguistic richness that is English? But, like, I wouldn't like, be too sure of like, that.