like

Salinas17 at aol.com Salinas17 at aol.com
Mon Feb 23 05:00:48 UTC 2004


In a message dated 2/21/04 6:25:35 PM, language at sprynet.com writes:
<< "Like" was definitely used in this manner in a circa-1900 Bram Stoker
novel, where it became clear from context that this was considered substandard
British English and/or criminal cant. >>

"Like" appeared in all kinds of old idiomatic expressions where it can be
read as abbreviations of longer forms.  E.g., "I feel like going home" (1863)
"looking for you like anything." (1665), "...the broad heath looked like
rabbits." (1868)"  "What is he like?" (1878), "So, it's like that, is it?", etc.
When we take the use of "like" as signaling approximation ("something like"), a
lot of modern uses can be connected to earlier uses.  The quotative, of course,
also ought to be seen as part of a narrative voice -- "He's like, 'go
ahead!'" uses the storyteller's present tense, qualifies the exactness of the quote
and drops narrative redundacies. (So then he says something like.../So then he
acts as if he were saying...)

Similarly, "He goes~"  may be seen as not different in sense from "he goes on
and on and on..."  or the formal narrative device, "he proceeds to say..."
When we heard "he goes, like, 'forget it'" on the streets of Brooklyn many
years ago, it was in the course of a narrative and was understood to mean "he then
goes on to say something like, 'forget it'."

Regards,
Steve Long



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