"like" and "as if"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:16:12 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>This construction is hard to search for in the databases, but here's an
>example of ironic assertional "like" from 1966 (in the same interview
>with Country Joe and the Fish that I recently cited for "get spaced"):
>
>-----
>"Country Joe and the Fish" by Greg Shaw
>_Mojo Navigator_, 22 November 1966 (rocksbackpages.com)
>BARRY: Every time Joe McDonald gets spaced he sings old folk songs.
>TOM: Now the truth comes out.
>DAVID: Yeah, that's a good point, man, we all do. As a matter of fact we
>all sing old folksongs when we're not doing rock'n'roll to keep our heads
>straight.
>JOE: That's for security; you want to go back to something that you know.
>TOM: Yeah, but you just said you don't have any roots there. Yeah, like
>it's a fraud for you to sing folk songs.
>-----
>
>The sarcasm isn't too heavy here, but there is clearly an ironic intent,
>since Tom Weller (the band's poster designer) isn't really accusing Joe
>McDonald of being a fraud for singing folk songs.

On second thought, maybe Weller really was making a playful accusation. As
the interview continues, the charge seems to be taken (semi-)seriously:

-----
DAVID: That's his field man, he used to sing old...
JOE: Well, I'm going to forget this; I feel hostility growing in the room.
What we're doing now is just like a hint of what I think should be done
[etc.]
-----

So perhaps this is just a case of "like" used "to introduce or call
attention to the following clause" (HDAS def 3). One would probably need
to hear a recording of the interview to know for sure.


--Ben Zimmer