Sunday, February 14, 2010

I'm Like, Whatever . . .

Hopefully none of you have read The Sunday Times yet.
Because I'm sharing bits out of an article there that had me grinning.
So here we go:
"I am soooooo not liking the way South Africans are, like, sounding like Paris Hilton.
Cathy (20), says: "I'd like to, like, have like, better grades. But when I like, talk in the like, like, classroom, I like say a lot of like, things that my like, teacher and like, classmates don't find convincing . . ."
Paul's girlfriend ditched him when he said: "I, like, love you."
The word pops up in a different guise: "and I'm like . . . "
It means the same as "I said. . ."
So the teenager, brain addled by too much Sponge Bob Squarepants in the formative years, will say:
"So I'm like, 'Well, I'm not feeling that right now.'"
"And he's like, 'But you know I'm like, not ready . . '"
But nothing annoys quite like "whatever."
For full effect, the phrase should be uttered with total indifference, a toss of the head and a slight upward roll of the eyes.
Ask any teenager to help you and you get: "I'm like, you know, whatever. ." which, quite brilliantly, manages to indicate apathy, ignorance and disrespect in one simple sentence.
Its almost poetic;
think of it as attitude haiku."
I have two things to say to the writer, Kate Sidley:
1. I sooooo agree (but do, like, fall into the trap myself sometimes)
2. Obviously, you have not been in the company of 6 and 7 year olds much lately.
They are also, like, sooooo into it.
Whatever.

4 comments:

Terry said...

I was "like" thinking of this very thing a couple of days ago. I'm afraid that this generation "like" just hasn't gotten a grasp on the English language. Being a parent and a grand parent, all I can "like" say is "This to will pass!"

Have a "like" great day Allie or "whatever"!! :) He He

Kate said...

Ha, ha - very true.

But Shew, I am SO anti "like" in every sentence, makes me crazy.

Its right up there is saying "hey" at the end of a sentence!

Lynette Jacobs said...

LOL! So it is not only me that get irritated with the young peoples (lack of)language.

Susan said...

This just proves that young people are pretty much the same wherever you go! I hear this all the time...especially since I work with the younger set at elementary school.

:-) Susan