Like, Why Do We Talk Like This?
It’s… concerning.
I honestly couldn’t tell you when it started, this linguistic phenomenon of everyone saying like in the middle of their sentences. Has it always been this way? Did I start in high school? Middle school? The sad truth is: I don’t know. And that’s the part that bothers me.
I’m usually a listener more than a talker these days and I pay attention to how people speak, how they carry their conversations, what words they tend to lean on. Lately, what I’ve noticed is how many people can’t go 10 seconds without tossing a like into the sentence. Sometimes three in a row. Sometimes more. I hear it in work meetings. On reality TV. At coffee shops. And then, worst of all… I hear it from myself.
And I cringe.
But, is it worse than “um”? Honestly? Yeah, I think it is. I used to be a classic uh and um guy during presentations in high school – guilty as charged. But like has taken things to another level. You ever hear someone use it so much that you don’t even remember what they were saying? You just hear like…like….like and then your brain taps out?
It happens. And it makes us sound dumber than we actually are.
Which sucks. Because I don’t think people are dumb. I think they’re on autopilot. I think we’ve developed this weird speech habit where we don’t even realize we’re doing it. That’s what makes like more dangerous than other fillers: it’s not just for sake of hesitation anymore. It’s tone-shifting. It’s distancing. It’s a weird linguistic tool that’s evolved into a default.
So… what is like doing in our sentences?
I’ve thought about this.
Like doesn’t just fill gaps anymore. It softens, it hedges, and it casual-ifies what we’re about to say. You could call someone horrible… or you could say, “she was just, like, being like, a really horrible person,” and somehow that makes it feel softer.
It’s a shield. It’s a way of saying, “I mean, don’t quote me on this exactly, but…” It’s a linguistic shrug.
And the worst part? It seems involuntary now. We’re not trying to sound unsure or overly casual. We just are. Because somewhere along the line, we stopped practicing how to speak clearly and confidently.
So, it begs the question, where did it come from? Some of it’s pop culture. Reality TV, Social media. We all know the ditzy Valley Girl stereotype, and movies like Clueless didn’t help (Thanks, Cher). But this goes deeper. TikTok culture, constant casual communication, and a real drop-off in how much people care about how they speak… it’s all taken a toll.
The value of speaking well? Of loving public speaking? Of understanding your pace and your pauses? That’s faded. And in its place, we’ve got like.
Should we try to stop?
Yes. Absolutely.
Fillers are natural. But we can train ourselves to do better. That starts with awareness, and maybe, just maybe, a willingness to cringe at how we used to speak the same way we cringe at our old Facebook statuses or photos with bad haircuts.
If you’re catching yourself overusing like, don’t beat yourself up. Just work on it. Practice pausing. Let your thoughts breathe. Speak slower if you have to. Because as much as we love making fun of Gen Z linguistics and TikTok language, we’re all guilty of it now.
If you’re working on this too, or if you’ve got strong opinions on why we talk the way we do, let’s connect. I’m always down for a conversation where we, like, don’t say like every five seconds. Or at least try not to.
written, out loud.