So I was mortified but unsurprised, after my week in Manhattan, to find a number of 'likes' insinuating themselves into, like, every 10th sentence. In Australia I use 'mate' in New York, 'buddy' or 'pal'. Within a few days of any visit to Texas, for instance, I find my accent twanging, and I start calling folks 'Y'all' and men 'pardner'.
This is an entirely unconscious process, and deeply embarrassing. I am linguistically very impressionable, and often pick up local accents. It's no wonder that Facebook is always inviting you (not me) to 'like' something.īut I seem to have become used to it.
You hear as many 'likes' in a Madison Avenue bistro as on a subway train or in the local primary school.
This linguistic tick is largely class, age and gender free. I've recently returned from New York and I seem, at last, to have resolved my linguistic irritability with Americans, who seem preternaturally compelled to use the word 'like' in, like, every sentence.
