It's, like, a hedging or distancing marker. The speaker isn't, like,
totally asserting that the proposition is true, but rather that it, like,
seems pretty darn truish. S/he isn't, like, imposing his/her reality onto
yours; s/he's just sayin'.

--- Bill Spruiell



On 11/23/11 3:39 PM, "Myers, Marshall" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Craig and Others,
>
>Thanks for the info.
>
>"Like" now is being used as a quotative: He's like (said) "Who are you?"
>I think it replaced "go."
> 
>I haven't figured out some of its other uses: "He's like mad at me."
>
>Any thoughts on that?
>
>Marshall
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell, William C
>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 11:45 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Like/as
>
>Craig:
>
>Was S&W really allowing single nouns after 'like', but not any multiword
>phrases? Or were they adopting the use of 'phrase' to refer only to PPs,
>VPs, etc.? If the former, that would be bizarrely wrong, but S&W are
>bizarrely wrong just often enough to make that reading plausible.
>
>--- Bill Spruiell
>
>
>
>
>On Nov 22, 2011, at 9:00 AM, "Hancock, Craig G"
><[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>Marshall,
>    I am old enough to have been schooled in the old rules and to
>remember the controversy over the Winston ad.
>    I have an original edition elements of Style ( 1959) which lays it
>out this way: "Like governs nouns and pronouns; before phrases and
>clauses the equivalent word is as. " You would say "As in the old days"
>rather than "like in the old days" and "as a cigarette should" rather
>than "like a cigarette should."
>    S & W also describes the controversy and comes down on the side of
>the old rule. In essence, they are saying being current or in current
>usage doesn't mean it's right. "If every word or device that achieved
>currency were immediately authenticated, simply on the grounds of
>popularity, the language would be as chaotic as a ball game with no foul
>lines." This rather strange (but telling) analogy is intact in my 1972
>edition.
>
>Craig
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Myers, Marshall
>Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 9:04 PM
>To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Like/as
>
>Does anybody still use "like" only as a verb (I like lemonade) or as a
>preposition (She looks like him), but not as a conjunction (You look like
>you could use a rest vs. You look as though you could use a rest)?
>
>"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. It may be bad grammar, but
>it's great taste," a cigarette slogan out of the late 50's .
>
>Marshall
>
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]<mailto:[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Dick Veit
>Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 8:10 PM
>To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Like/as
>
>Unlike Bruce, I have absolutely no problem with "like" as a preposition,
>orally or in writing.
>
>Bruce, if you object to "like," do you also object to "unlike," as in my
>opening sentence?
>
>Dick
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
>On Nov 21, 2011, at 7:16 PM, Bruce Despain
><<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> wrote:
>John,
>You'll have to figure out the collective part, but I have my own opinion.
> For me the sentences belongs in a written work and the preferred phrase
>is introduced with "as with."  The preposition "like" has taken on a
>distinct colloquial flavor, especially in some young people's dialects,
>where is usually serves as a sentence modifier.  I would avoid it in
>written work.
>Bruce
>
>--- <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>From: John Chorazy
><<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]<mailto:jo
>[log in to unmask]>>
>To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Like/as
>Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:35:10 -0500
>Good afternoon to all.  I'd appreciate your collective comments on the
>following:
>
>"As with (or) Like some other great works, the enduring horror tale
>Frankenstein was first published anonymously; its author, Mary Shelly,
>wrote the novel when she was just nineteen years old."
>
>As or like here, and why?
>
>Thank you,
>
>John
>
>
>--
>John Chorazy
>English III Honors and Academic
>Pequannock Township High School
>973.616.6000
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>interface at: <http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html>
>http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
>the list"
>Visit ATEG's web site at <http://ateg.org/> http://ateg.org/
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>interface at: <http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html>
>http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
>the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at <http://ateg.org/> http://ateg.org/
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>interface at: <http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html>
>http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
>the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at <http://ateg.org/> http://ateg.org/
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>interface at:
>     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
>interface at:
>     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/