One of my guilty pleasures is the television series The Bachelor/Bachelorette—those people are just so stupid I can’t look away—and I even find myself reading articles and listening to podcasts about the week’s episode. I was watching a podcast last week on one of my favorite websites, Grantland, when I was struck by the linguistics of the speakers. I was so fascinated, and insanely annoyed, that I had to create a supercut and post it here.
The use of the word “like” as a filler no longer exists solely among 13-year-old valley girls. “Like” has become more ubiquitous than “um” or “uh” in many conversations, and along with “you know” seems to be part of dialogue at any age. We all need a pause now and then, but when “like” becomes a reflexive and overwhelming aspect of communication, I think we have, like, a serious problem. I don’t expect everyone to sit around and chat fluidly like William F. Buckley, but we can definitely do better.
This original podcast was approximately 50 minutes in length. My video here is just over 6 minutes. Even if we don’t count the other humorous phrases I have chosen to include, we could estimate a solid 5 minutes of just “likes.” That means 10 percent of the conversation is devoted to that pervasive word. And if I were to include “ums” and “uhs” and other familiar fillers (which is probably another 10 percent), we could theoretically conclude that as much as one-fifth of everything we say literally means nothing. That’s amazing! (Another phrase that is used way too often.)
If you have something to say, say it. Collect your thoughts and spit it out. Or just keep quiet. I promise, quiet is okay. The world could use more quiet. For those out there that are not even aware of your usage of “like,” trust me, it’s there. And this is how you sound. A warning: you may want to jam a fork in your ear canal when you watch this. Hopefully you can make it to the end. Good luck. And I’m sorry.
The use of the word “like” as a filler no longer exists solely among 13-year-old valley girls. “Like” has become more ubiquitous than “um” or “uh” in many conversations, and along with “you know” seems to be part of dialogue at any age. We all need a pause now and then, but when “like” becomes a reflexive and overwhelming aspect of communication, I think we have, like, a serious problem. I don’t expect everyone to sit around and chat fluidly like William F. Buckley, but we can definitely do better.
This original podcast was approximately 50 minutes in length. My video here is just over 6 minutes. Even if we don’t count the other humorous phrases I have chosen to include, we could estimate a solid 5 minutes of just “likes.” That means 10 percent of the conversation is devoted to that pervasive word. And if I were to include “ums” and “uhs” and other familiar fillers (which is probably another 10 percent), we could theoretically conclude that as much as one-fifth of everything we say literally means nothing. That’s amazing! (Another phrase that is used way too often.)
If you have something to say, say it. Collect your thoughts and spit it out. Or just keep quiet. I promise, quiet is okay. The world could use more quiet. For those out there that are not even aware of your usage of “like,” trust me, it’s there. And this is how you sound. A warning: you may want to jam a fork in your ear canal when you watch this. Hopefully you can make it to the end. Good luck. And I’m sorry.