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The Quotative Like
Discovery News looks at a study of the construction "to be + like" in instant messaging to indicate quoted speech, as in "He was like, did you see what she was wearing?" In 2003, speakers used it 75 percent of the time while communicating face-to-face but only 6 percent of the time in IM's. By 2006, usage in IM's had jumped to 50 percent, and is believed to still be increasing. John Singler, a professor of linguistics at NYU who did not work on the study, told Discovery News that the "utter rapidity" of the way that "be + like" has spread is "remarkable," and it hasn't just happened among Americans. He pointed out that speakers and IMers in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Ghana and "who knows where else" have also been bitten by something akin to the quotative like bug. And we were all, wow, that is so fascinating. (SUZANNE) Tags: English
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