Job Discussion Forums

[Stephen Jones]

[englishgibson]

OP, I share the same feelings. Canada is one country where you'll hear it all. Then, listen to those "native" indians, no disrespect there.
In US, they've "UPDATED" the language in past 50 or 60 years and their migrant communities have brought a rather interesting "accent" to it.

[SeasonedVet]

Keith_Alan_W wrote:

[sallycat]

well, if you were learning, say, japanese, what would you want to learn? "like" is a filler -- i believe all languages have them. i'd say students should be taught about such words but should also be taught about their social connotation, for example that using "like" a lot sounds natural in a conversation between teenagers, but would sound odd in a speech by a 45 year-old businessman (high status women seem to use it a little more often than high status men).

[ls650]

[Chris_Crossley]

[johncanada24]

[quote="Keith_Alan_W"]

Like everywhere I like go, I like hear people, like using the word "like" all the time. Like I don't know what like they are like trying to like do by like using the word "like" as like most of their like sentences. So I was like listening to these like young people, like talking about their like problems. Like one guy was like talking about his like love life with his like female friend. And they like talked, like for like a long time and they like used "like", like all the like time. I like felt like getting up and like yelling at them to like learn the fu#king language!!!!!!

quote]


Haven't read this whole thread yet but from the sounds of things i would assume the people you heard are around their teens? Possibly a group of girls?? It could be a group of guys using like but its highly unlikely. sounds like a typical mall teeny bopper.

If that's the case you can blame that on:


The O.C.
Mean Girls
Bring it on
Bring it again (Bring it on 2)

And the list goes on.
Maybe its cool to like use the word .....like alot!

[sallycat]

there's some interesting points raised there about the relative status given to women's use of language and men's use of language. language is generally full of fillers like "umm" and "like". they're generally more noticeable when they're not the fillers used by your particular social group.

[Twelvetongue]

[sallycat]

that was actually my point -- if you would find it appropriate to learn these phrases, then it is appropriate to teach them. however, just as there are words in japanese which are commonly used by schoolgirls, and others that are commonly used by middle-aged men, so fillers in english also denote membership of a particular social group. i would say fillers in all languages should be taught with reference to their social context.