Diss 'Like' - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

I have been fighting against "I'm like, you know," for a quarter of a century. While Ted Gup's Chronicle of Higher Ed post is far more eloquent than I've ever been, I am pleased to note that I have come to a place of peaceful co-existence with the dialect, Teen-Age Mall Rat (TAMR).

BECOME BI-LINGUAL
Please continue to speak TAMR if it is your clients' first language, however, if you plan to represent them in the legal and business world, Standard English will be required.

Why? Imagine this language in a trial transcript:

"I'm like, Your Honor..."

"Like you know, the Plaintiff was like walking across the crosswalk, and, like the Defendant was like making a right turn and drove his car like right into my client."

Aside from sounding silly, is that language that your client may cheerfully pay for?

Diss 'Like' - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education:

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