"like that"

[A. Maberry]

I haven't heard "like that" around the Seattle area, but it may be
generational for this area. I can't believe there is a huge difference
between speech patterns in Portland and Seattle, although when I moved
here 26+ years ago, there were some noticeable differences in vocabulary.
>From now on, though, I'll be listening for it.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> At 11:13 AM 1/15/01 -0800, you wrote:
> >On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
> > >
> > > But isn't this just the pause marker "like"? (or focuser 'like' or
> > > intrusive 'like', to use variant terms for this syntactic
> > > interrupter).   In contrast, "like that" is a real conjunction, introducing
> > > an embedded (subordinate) clause.  "Like" has many functions: focuser,
> > > quotative ("And he's like 'I don't want to go'"), preposition, and
> > > conjunction--but in the last case, it's generally used alone; the double
> > > 'like that' as conj. is Southern, if I'm not mistaken.
> >
> >Gosh, Beverly, I'd like to confirm your notion here, but I'm absolutely
> >sure this is a double conjunction. It's most often used after _feel_: "I
> >feel like that we ought to stop for groceries." It's all over the place
> >up/out here, and not used exclusively by Southern emigres. Most other
> >speakers would say either "like" or "that" after "feel"; perhaps the
> >double conjunction is used to underscore the speaker's opinion or feeling
> >about something, used in place of (or--horrors!--in addition to) "really":
> >"I really feel like that the entire city council should just resign."
> >
> >_That_ is definitely not pronominal: "I feel like that sometimes."
> >
> >Peter R.
>
> This is interesting!  From your previous note, I didn't catch this
> usage.  Maybe other Westerners have heard this too?
>
> _____________________________________________
> Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
> Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
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