Talk:Like

Word Origin
I was watching a CBC documentary an Canadian English, and they said that the word like entered the language in the 1960's but nobody knows from where. Does anyone know where word first appeared?

Wictionary?
Wiktionary candidate? --Diberri 06:12, Apr 1, 2004 (UTC)

--Like, what's that supposed to mean? --75.16.231.156 (talk) 03:06, 12 January 2008 (UTC)


 * ✅, it's an article on a word, and nothing else. --  DasRakel  ✍  14:41, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

this is bull crap —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.169.144.166 (talk) 01:23, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Like soda?
Wasn't there a soda called Like in the 1960s and 1970s? Who was that made by? 7UP? In any case, it should be noted via link in the article.

Fuck?
The word "fuck" is also used in a lot of ways. I do not think there should be an own page. But you could state it in the beginning sentence of this article. I know this more meant as fun, but it is true. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/fwordflash.html


 * The word fuck does have its own page: Fuck. And actually, as someone who has written a bit on this article, it wasn't meant so much as fun.  There are seriously interesting linguistic phenomena going on with this word right now.  There are actually people who are quite serious who spend a good deal of time researching this word and the ways its usage are changing (for that matter, there are people who spend a lot of time researching how fuck is used).  In fact, your statement about the page not being serious or worthwhile just points to the truthfulness of some arguments in sociolinguistics about what sorts of language use get privileged and what ones don't.  There's a lot of interesting and serious and impacting stuff having to do with language that we just don't often consider, and this (I think) is one of them.  -Seth Mahoney 05:38, 23 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Ain't it the truth! Wahkeenah 11:49, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Seth, I tihnk the first poster ment that the flash thing he posted is ment for fun, not the article. - Navarro 07:07, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

can anyone tell me...
can "fuck" be a quotative? skizzno logic3.1 22:09, 12 February 2006 (UTC)


 * I've never heard 'fuck' used as a quotative. -Seth Mahoney 22:12, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * yeah. hehe. the opening of this article reads weird. I don't think it's a hedge either. skizzno logic3.1 22:13, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
 * 'Fuck' or 'like'? -Seth Mahoney 22:14, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The word like is one of only two words in English that can be a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction, hedge, and quotative. For the other word, see Fuck.

This is clearly incorrect. if you go to the fuck page, you'll see that fuck can take 5 forms, not all the same 8 forms as "like". anyone wann find a way to work it back in & keep it accurate- feel free- it's your wiki too. skizzno logic3.1 06:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I love how you guys are amost having like a serious discussion over the word fuck. Wikipedia is so official. OVERTWITCH~Your Favourite Nerdy, Glasses Wearing, Hyperactive, little Asian

"Like" is NOT an adjective!!! You cannot say "she is a like person", "she is very like" or "she is liker than me". The examples given are its prepositional usage.

What if I were to say, for instance, something is 'like to a dog' synonymous to 'similar to a dog?' How is this not an adjectival usage?Dhicks3 (talk) 03:10, 26 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Can someone give men example of it being a noun? "What was that?  It was a like."  or "I might go buy a like" or possibly "Hey I'm bored, what to go and ride on my like for a while?".  Seriously - a noun?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.167.255.146 (talk) 00:36, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

"Like" is a cool like word to use
In a descriptive treatment of a word, I don't think it is good linguistic practice to make subjective judgements of that word's "appropriateness." I think any references to the prescriptive usage of the word "like" should perhaps be treated in a separate subheading of this article, instead of asides in the descriptions of its parts of speech. Just because you don't like a word, doesn't mean we can't have a discussion about how it is used.

Capitalize or not?
I have a quick question, when "like" is used in a song title, as a comparison, should it be capitalized?

Thankyoubaby 02:08, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * That depends on the context, but generally, when used in a comparison (as in Hidden in Plain View's "Eyes like a Target"), it should not be capitalized. --HarryCane 14:46, 22 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks! --Thankyoubaby 21:01, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Incorrect uses in adjective section
"Like" used in the first two examples (He is like her; This tastes like chocolate) are prepositions for comparisons. In the third, "alike" is actually an adverb that modifies "so". A better example is: "Argon, neon, and like gases are inert." I'm going to remove the old examples and use mine instead. Any objections?

Preposition section
The preposition section is all wrong. The first sentence talks about similes and has two examples, one of which isn't a simile. That doesn't make sense. Then, the example itself "He eats like a pig." is a conjunction example, if I'm not mistaken. In cases where I'm confused as to part of speech, I try to diagram it, and I'm pretty sure the last part "like a pig" is the subordinate clause "like a pig (does)" where the "does" is implicit rather than explicit. Anyway, the sum of "like as a preposition" is not similes, obviously, and everything in this section is basically aimed like that. I stared at it for 10 minutes but couldn't figure out a good definition or example, which is why it still isn't fixed. Someone please re-think this section to make it correct. Garnet avi (talk) 00:14, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Ja lubie sport —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.163.149.214 (talk) 15:29, 8 October 2008 (UTC) [exam] Like is sometimes used at the end of the sentence -ie "She was cool, like." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.145.200 (talk) 16:52, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Commas
Why are all the...non-traditional 'likes' surrounded by commas? Rarely would someone put a big pause on either side of the word when saying, "like what's up with that?" or "so the job's like nine-to-five, but the pay's pretty good", etc, etc. Novium (talk) 23:29, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

It may just be me, but I would punctuate these sentences differently. I would say "Like, what's up with that?" and "So, the job's like, nine to five, but the pay's pretty good." This may be because I myself pause at these instances, and so consider it better, but I don't think there is a linguistic prescription either way. So, I don't think either side should be aggressively advocated as 'correct,' but rather, both acknowledged as acceptable.Dhicks3 (talk) 03:15, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

North of England
I do not know which areas in North of England do this, but I have heard phrases along lines of "The policeman got shot, and was dead like." - meaning he was dead. Common in stereotypical Northern accents done by actors, but I have occassionally heard this from real people too. Format (talk) 20:01, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure as to your purpose, but my opinion is that these 'likes' serve as adverbial modifiers to the already present adjectives, serving to distinguish this dialect. They signify, for instance, to disimmilate or soften the already present adjective, thereby presenting, in this case, the death of the officer less shockingly. Although we know he is dead, the speaker relates the death more gently by calling him 'dead-like.' Does this interpretation jive with your more holistic hearing of the usage?Dhicks3 (talk) 03:22, 26 December 2010 (UTC) my name is feysel nesru from Ethiopian plies help mi? new register melitery scull? www.feyselnesru@live.com 10Q — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.55.105.212 (talk) 12:44, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

nearly?
Like can be used as an adverb meaning "nearly" or to indicate that the phrase in which it appears is to be taken metaphorically or as a hyperbole. What evidence is there for "like" meaning "nearly" in the cited sentences? To me it feels more like a focus marker or intensifier (a function that is not mentioned in the article). The hyperbolic intention would be just as clear without it. It could also be that there has been a semantic shift and that "like" as a hedge has become rarer.--88.73.19.182 (talk) 17:27, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

In the West, the quotative use is not just for youth
I have lived in the (US) West my entire life, and everybody I know uses this as a quotative. I recently just got a job at a conservative government agency, and I was surprised to find out that it is NOT just those of us who were young in the 1990s who use this. The only people who do not frequently use "like" are those who are close to retirement (60's and 70's).

Even the director of the division uses "like" as a quotative, and he's 55, ultra conservative and highly educated.

A side note, from my observations, Hispanics in the West use "all" the same way we use like.

He was all, "I'm going to come next week." is a perfectly acceptable usage.

128.123.207.77 (talk) 15:29, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Verbal crutch
I submit that "like" is a verbal crutch which is more than acceptable to young Americans because it is a vogue word among the young who are insecure and prone to rely on imitation, and repetition for acceptance and approval. It facilitates conversation among the young by 'watering it down' (as a hedge, filler, and do-all ready recourse) their speech allowing fluency with less thought, and all too often less content or substance. So the usefulness is not in conveying specific i.e. substantive verbal information, but rather in conveying a sympathetic mind set, a oneness of attitude, or aptitude to reinforce, or supply, one another's sense of belonging, fitness, and togetherness. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.21.221.117 (talk) 04:45, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

Likeness?
Use of Likeness as from like? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 112.209.29.61 (talk) 09:08, 12 December 2014 (UTC)

What Word class is like
Like can be lots of Word classes but which one is the main one 81.97.89.253 (talk) 17:03, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Read the article, please. You may be able to infer the frequency with which the word is used in various use classes from the order in which they are presented in the article (though I wouldn't count on it). Please see also WP:NOTFORUM.  General Ization  Talk  17:18, 29 September 2022 (UTC)