"Like" abuse redivivus

[George Thompson]

> But "I want like a dictionary" does not have the grammatical shape
> that would allow the interpretation "I want something like a
> dictionary."

I doubt that my comrade would have cared about the grammatical shape of the utterance, and would have thought that anyone who made that objection was being a pain in the ass by trying to interfere with his flaunting his purism.

He would also heap scorn on anyone who proclaimed themselves to be an "alumni" of the university -- after they had departed, of course.

It wasn't his purism that I admired, but his dedication to being a pain in the ass.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
Date: Saturday, April 12, 2008 1:43 pm
Subject: Re: "Like" abuse redivivus
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


> But "I want like a dictionary" does not have the grammatical shape
> that would allow the interpretation "I want something like a
> dictionary." Sometimes purists are just plain old pains in the ass
> (or should that be pain in the asses).
>
> dInIs
>
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: "Like" abuse redivivus
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >A former colleague in the reference room, a purist and an arrant
> >pain in the ass -- I admired him for it, of course -- if a student
> >said "I want , like, a dictionary of literary criticism", would
> >reply, "do you want a book that's like a dictionary, or do you want
> >a dictionary?"
> >
> >For my part, at least once I was posed a question by a fashionably
> >inarticulate student that contained the highest possible ratio of
> >"like" to substance words.  I completely lost track of the sense of
> >the question, and had to ask him to say it again, without the
> >"likes".
> >I too want to be a pain in the ass whenever possible, but this was a
> >case of necessity.
> >
> >GAT
> >
> >George A. Thompson
> >Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> >Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >Date: Saturday, April 12, 2008 10:34 am
> >Subject: "Like" abuse redivivus
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >
> >>  Actually, it's never been gone, but thirty years ago "like" abuse
> was
> >>  a big deal among the "Death of English" crowd. Recent developments
> in
> >>  global warming and so forth have rather shunted it from notice.
> >>
> >>    On campus yesterday I heard a young university woman explaining
> >>  excitedly, "So, like, it was like I was like that's _impossible_!
> >>  And, like, she was like 'No! It isn't!' Like, then I was like it still
> >>  sounds kind of crazy like."
> >>
> >>    Admittedly this is not an exact transcription, but I promise you
> it
> >>  comes very close.  She certainly used "like" more densely (no pun
> >>  intended) than any other speaker I've ever heard.
> >>
> >>    I may have mentioned previously that the first time I became aware
> >>  of "to be like," meaning "to think or say," was as late as 1984,
> >>  though it has since been antedated by some few years.
> >>
> >>    JL
> >>
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>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
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