'like'

[Salinas17 at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/18/04 3:23:04 PM, davpark at microsoft.com writes:
<< While the "l" word as a verb and adjective dates back to the 1200s, its
new use as a "quotative" (I'm, like, `wow') was first spotted by linguist Ronald
Butters of Duke University in 1982. >>

Anyone familiar with the likes of Cheech and Chong (or rather willing to
admit it) might suggest that the use of "like" in the 60's and 70's was actually
and logically to signal a simile.  ("I mean, this weed is, like, atomic
powered." versus the metaphorical "I mean, this weed is atomic powered."  Compare "my
love is, like, a red, red rose.")  From there it traveled to a emphatic
device.  (...like, far out...)   The use as a quotative (He's, like, "Go ahead.")
is a further evolution that still nevertheless conveys some sense of the
characteristic approximation of the simile. (He's [saying something] like, "Go
ahead.")

Steve Long