"like" avoidance/correction

[Marc Sacks]

John Baker noted that:
>
>         MWDEU notes the hypercorrective tendency of some writers to
> avoid "like" even as a preposition.

I wonder if people avoid "like" in some settings because it can also be a
verb.

Complete the sentence: "Some people like me ..."

a) feel strongly about the president.
b) and some don't.

Of course, if I wanted a) I would have put a comma after "people" but this
distinction is lost in speech.

"Like" may just be problematic, rather the way "sex" has been replaced by
"gender" even when the biological, not the bawdy, meaning of the former is
intended.

Marc Sacks
msacks at theworld.com

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