you know 'like''

Have you noticed how much people use this word? It seems to be a worm withering through conversations. Is it encouraged by the 'like' button? Trust me once you start noticing, you can't escape it. I point you to the late Christopher Hitchens who discusses it like, you know, more eloquently  n' stuff.

"(like)is an example of “filler” words being used as props, to try to shore up a lame sentence. People who can’t get along without “um” or “er” or “basically” (or, in England, “actually”) or “et cetera et cetera” are of two types: the chronically modest and inarticulate, such as Ms. Kennedy, and the mildly authoritarian who want to make themselves un-interruptible. Saul Bellow’s character Ravelstein is a good example of the latter: in order to deny any opening to a rival, he says “the-uh, the-uh” while searching for the noun or concept that is eluding him."

read the rest here  The Other L-Word