pet peeve

[brightlotusmoon]

Last night, while on the bus going home, I watched a teenage girl whip out her ringing cell phone and answer it after just having got on the bus. She spoke loudly enough to entertain the whole bus, of course. However, what set my teeth on edge was when she uttered a classic line that always makes me want to beat senseless anyone I hear saying:
"Where am I at? Um... I'm, like, I dunno. Whatever. Why?"

I'd rather not forgive her just because she appeared to be fourteen and part of the "MySpace" generation. I'd rather shove a copy of the Chicago Manual Of Style in her face and then clobber her with it. The phrase, "Like, I dunno" is one of the things I hate most. Hate it. It grinds against my brain like broken glass. What's worse is when I hear it being uttered by people in their twenties and even thirties. I cannot help it, I instantly react in a bad way. The person may not be stupid, but to me that phrase somehow makes the person sound stupid. I know college students who interject the phrase into every other sentence. I know this one girl in her twenties who seems unable to complete a simple sentence without trailing off, looking confused, and then saying, "Like, I dunno" or "Um, it's like whatever" or something equally inane. I try not to bash her head in because she is friends with someone I care about, and it would make my friend upset if I got out the aluminum bat.

The girl on the bus could have said, "I just got on a bus" or "I'm across the street from X Shopping Center" or just some indication of where she actually was. The fact that she said "I'm, like, I dunno, whatever" is a sad sad indication of something I don't even want to think about.

I know there are some people who read this who will disagree with me, tell me to "lighten up, for god's sake, she was just a kid," or say "This is how people talk now, deal with it," or berate me, or cry, "Hey, I say that and I'm not stupid! You're mean!" I'll admit that I've slipped up and caught myself saying it.
I'm not saying that anyone is actually stupid if they say it. I'm saying that the phrasing is stupid. Especially when it is used all the fucking time.

Comments

[blood-4-deniro.livejournal.com]

ugh....just reading that phrase made me wish my head would explode....

i severely dislike the "um, like i dunno, whatever" and i hear it just about everyday

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Makes me wish their heads would explode too. Or that their brains shock them whenever they say it.

[blood-4-deniro.livejournal.com]

haha. it's kind of hard for your head to explode when there's nothing in it though...but i think maybe if you poke it, it could deflate ;) and i just realized...i use "like" at least 3 times a day (i counted yesterday cuz i'm ocd like that). *explodes head*

[fyremoon.livejournal.com]

I wondered about this, the sentence breaks down to the fact she doesn't want to tell the caller where she is. It could be her mother and she's off to a boyfriend for instance.

The volume could be a form of nervousness, especially since the girl's age and rush of hormones associated with puberty and how nervous that age group usually are anyway.

Its too easy to say its their iPod played at high volume that has caused the high speech volume, but that is to drown out the rest of the world.

The language is a form of rebellion, something teenagers do very well at. Do you think she'd listen to someone quoting from the manual of style when they believe they know more than their parents?

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

No, it sounded like she was talking with a good friend, very comfortably. There was no nervousness in her voice. And she could have said, "I'm on a bus" if she wanted to be vague.

[poelaramont.livejournal.com]

Well, she certainly lacked eloquence in that moment.

You hear the word "like" in California a lot. At least in high school.

[nobodobodon.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who's into linguistics went to some conference about 10 years ago where there was a whole session dedicated to the colloquial use of "like", and many people argued that it was valid to some extent.

Of course, the real semantic content of it is to express unsureness. Which, in fact, her entire exchange was like that. She didn't know the question, didn't know the answer, didn't understand why she should share the answer. I guess it's better than previous generations that were overly confident in their knowledge, but I find it grating on a deeper level.

It's not the words, it's the fact that they really mean it. Sure, in some underlying philosophical way, we can't know the deeper truths of the universe, we can't be certain of our knowledge, but must we constantly acknowledge that everytime we express anything? Sheesh.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly.
I keep wondering, whatever happened to the silent pause as one gathers one's next thoughts? It has been replaced with "like."
I can see using "like" to describe something as "almost, but not quite" in some circumstances. For example, "That guy was, like, seven feet tall!" (Obviously, he probably was not seven feet tall, but he was so tall that it seemed that way.) It's useful in that practical sense when you want to skirt around an outlandish description using fewer words.
Unfotunately, it's being used all the time, in every sentence that doesn't need it, and that's what really bothers me. And, like you said,the fact that they really mean it.

My high school social studies teacher (mid-90's) had a severe dislike of it. If a student used "like" in that context, she'd correct them every time. She even wrote on the classroom pencil sharpener, "This is 'like' Ms. Kotuk's pencial sharpener!"

[nobodobodon.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering, whatever happened to the silent pause as one gathers one's next thoughts?

You can only pause when your turn is over. Stop making noise for a moment and the other person starts talking.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Very true. Which in turn leads to the classic interruptions.

[sidheblessed.livejournal.com]

I agree, it is a stupid phrase.