Barbara J. Hamby

And I Was Like Wow

Far be it from me to veer away from the tendency of the elderly to critique the language and vocabulary of the younger generation. Was I taking one of my frequent naps when the phrase “And I was like, wow!” became the prefix to every other sentence? The words, “like” and “you know” have been sprinkled around like salt and pepper for years now.

When I was in high school, we had an older lady living next door who hung “don’t you know” on the end of almost every sentence. I wanted to scream, “No, I don’t,” but I’d been taught to be courteous, especially to my elders.

I don’t remember how long any of the above grammatical atrocities have been dropped into conversations, but I wrote a poem a few years back about an actual dialogue I heard between two book store employees with “like” placed inappropriately between every two or three words.

I’m not around a lot of teenagers these days, but I hear that “texting” is further polluting the English/American language.

So much has changed during my lifetime, I can only imagine how conversation will change in the next 25 to 50 years; I won’t be around to hear it which is probably just as well.

Permalink