These posters were posted around UCSD this week. I don't know who designed and posted them.
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on Friday, June 3rd, 2005 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Linguistics, UCSD.
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28 Responses to “Don’t sound stupid, stop saying like.”
Good catch Jeff. Also, the word ‘like’ should be in quotes in their main slogan. The idea is good, but the execution isn’t. You have to be very careful when you print something like that.
Actually they’re called discourse markers. These posters are an unfortunate waste of creative energy, and tell us that we all sound stupid. How kind of their designer to have our best interests in mind.
Yeah, I saw that post last week and used its images in class (basically to make the point in my previous comment). Language Log has an excellent and extensive series of discussions regarding the usage of like, recently catalogued here. (Which Eric’s post links to as well.)
we had a similar effort here in sweden, called “skrivihop” (write-together).
the swedish language is built on word combinations, and if you write them “likethis” or “like this” makes a whole lot of difference…
Kassaskåp = a safe
Kassa skåp = broken cupboards
But a good example that could have made a ruccus if it got on a front page of a news paper:
“Svensk general agent för Kinaföretag”
Swedish general agent for a Chinese company
“Svensk generalagent för Kinaföretag”
Swedish pricipal agent for a Chinse company
Actually — darn, ‘actually’ is *also* one of those words, it’s not just a defect (disfluency is quite a nice new word, I’m happy to have learnt it, thanks Jesse).
Actually those little words aren’t only disfluencies, they are also part of the emphatic function of language as defined by Jakobson.
Saying little words while I’m looking, you know, for the right word, see, is a way, actually, to, like, take the time I need to think it without, you know, losing contact with you. It acts the same as those almost imperceptible smiles used by practised speakers.
Coming from a teenagers point of view, sure it may be used as “inproper content”, but hey so is about every other thing that we say. Its just a word people use subconciously, everyone can be accused of using it out of term. Give people a break, are you going to pick on the peopole who say it
Yes, we’ll not only pick on people who sprinkle too many ‘likes’ in their utterances – we’ll beat them ! GRRRRR If I hear another whining ‘It’s just, like, SO coooel’ I’ll explode.
[…] [Update, 6/7/2005: Jesse Ruderman, who found this post here, writes to note that he’s got better pictures of the posters here. Note that the first comment on that post notes the same thing as Mark does above.] […]
June 3rd, 2005 at 6:46 pm
…brought to you by the “Acadamy [sic] of Linguistic Awarness [sic]”.
June 3rd, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Good catch Jeff. Also, the word ‘like’ should be in quotes in their main slogan. The idea is good, but the execution isn’t. You have to be very careful when you print something like that.
(**scans comment for errors repeatedly**)
June 3rd, 2005 at 7:16 pm
…You mean “scans comment repeatedly for errors”. :P
June 4th, 2005 at 7:21 am
I really like that Posters. Its ,like, um, u know. :D
June 4th, 2005 at 7:43 am
like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like…
June 4th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
I’m really liking those posters.
I hate that idiom almost as much as the ‘like’ verbal tick.
June 6th, 2005 at 1:00 am
Isn’t there a specific word for .. uh… words such as (ha!) “Like”, or “umm..” or “y’know”?
Oh and those posters are damn funny. And necessary. Overdue, I’d say.
June 6th, 2005 at 1:36 am
Yes, they’re called disfluencies.
June 7th, 2005 at 11:04 am
Actually they’re called discourse markers. These posters are an unfortunate waste of creative energy, and tell us that we all sound stupid. How kind of their designer to have our best interests in mind.
June 7th, 2005 at 11:07 am
Erik Bakovic also wrote about these posters at the Language Log groupblog.
June 7th, 2005 at 11:27 am
Yeah, I saw that post last week and used its images in class (basically to make the point in my previous comment). Language Log has an excellent and extensive series of discussions regarding the usage of like, recently catalogued here. (Which Eric’s post links to as well.)
June 10th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
I “love” this post.
June 14th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
Whats the Problem with this word?
Is it because americans use this word “like” to often?
June 16th, 2005 at 9:31 am
we had a similar effort here in sweden, called “skrivihop” (write-together).
the swedish language is built on word combinations, and if you write them “likethis” or “like this” makes a whole lot of difference…
Kassaskåp = a safe
Kassa skåp = broken cupboards
But a good example that could have made a ruccus if it got on a front page of a news paper:
“Svensk general agent för Kinaföretag”
Swedish general agent for a Chinese company
“Svensk generalagent för Kinaföretag”
Swedish pricipal agent for a Chinse company
I’m bored, and now you’re bored too, right? ;-P
June 21st, 2005 at 3:54 pm
Egyptians say “yani” instead of like, whether they’re speaking in arabic or in english.
June 23rd, 2005 at 1:51 pm
that’s like, so hilarious…
i wanted to trackback you but you dont have trackbacks. i hope you dont mind i posted that on my blog…
http://anina.typepad.com/anina/2005/06/no_likes.html
best wishes,
anina
http://www.anina.net
June 29th, 2005 at 3:47 am
Badly needed in more places than just on a few posters.
Disfluencies, eh? I’ll have to remember that word.
(Not in the OS X spell checker or Dictionary)
June 29th, 2005 at 7:36 am
Actually — darn, ‘actually’ is *also* one of those words, it’s not just a defect (disfluency is quite a nice new word, I’m happy to have learnt it, thanks Jesse).
Actually those little words aren’t only disfluencies, they are also part of the emphatic function of language as defined by Jakobson.
Saying little words while I’m looking, you know, for the right word, see, is a way, actually, to, like, take the time I need to think it without, you know, losing contact with you. It acts the same as those almost imperceptible smiles used by practised speakers.
July 2nd, 2005 at 12:37 am
Brilliant posters. Thank you very much for it.
July 15th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Bloody swedes… You have no sense of language.
No, the PROPER Scandinavian language is of course Danish.
We do, however have the same problem with people dividing words that shouldn’t be divided. Instead of ‘like’, we have trouble with people saying crap like ‘dér’ (‘there’) after each sentence.
Ooh, supper.
July 15th, 2005 at 9:54 pm
Coming from a teenagers point of view, sure it may be used as “inproper content”, but hey so is about every other thing that we say. Its just a word people use subconciously, everyone can be accused of using it out of term. Give people a break, are you going to pick on the peopole who say it
August 26th, 2005 at 11:21 am
Now id “like” was a keyword you were targeting in the search engines, you’d rank high! :)
August 29th, 2005 at 11:44 pm
You should add the phrase ‘you know’ to the posters. That’s just as bad as ‘like’!
September 6th, 2005 at 8:32 am
Like you know what I’m sayin’? (a favorite of rap artists and valley girls)
September 10th, 2005 at 1:54 am
Yes, we’ll not only pick on people who sprinkle too many ‘likes’ in their utterances – we’ll beat them ! GRRRRR If I hear another whining ‘It’s just, like, SO coooel’ I’ll explode.
September 19th, 2005 at 11:39 am
I think “y’know” is much worse than “link”.
October 3rd, 2005 at 10:13 am
[…] [Update, 6/7/2005: Jesse Ruderman, who found this post here, writes to note that he’s got better pictures of the posters here. Note that the first comment on that post notes the same thing as Mark does above.] […]
August 16th, 2011 at 9:36 am
Discussion on Reddit (2007)