Christopher Hitchens analyses the use of "like" as a filler word (single link Vanity Fair). Short version: "Clueless" started it, and the general Californication of the American spoken language. African American kids say "nome sane" instead of "like". Hitchens compares the use of "like" to intoning declarative sentences as questions, also called uptalk. Like, "I go to Columbia? The University?" [more inside]
posted by NekulturnY on Jan 20, 2010 - 320 comments

Join the Apathy Party 08 campaign and make sure that nobody decides or makes a difference, because we couldn't care less. Americans everywhere will make their voices heard and their voices will say, "Whatever."
posted by netbros on Jul 14, 2008 - 76 comments

Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
posted by Artw on Dec 5, 2007 - 72 comments

"I hate your politics. Listening to any of you yammer on about the geopolitical situation is enough to make one want to melt down one's dental fillings with a beeswax candle and then jam an ice pick into the freshly-exposed nerve, just to have something else to think about. "
posted by maudlin on Mar 22, 2002 - 46 comments