Usage

[Quizmonster]

Has this category actually gone four whole days without a new question or is something wrong with my computer?
So, what the hey! I'll ask one that's been nagging away at me...
When did "I was like..."/"She was like..." become a suitable substitute for "I said..."/"She said..."?
And why? Is this something else we have to thank Aussie soaps for?

[smorodina]

Blimey! That must be a toughie if you need to ask! I think this pre-dates the Aussie influence and originated in the US. We used to use phrases like 'that was, like, so cool' and similar back in the late sixties/early seventies and I'd guess it developed from that. But if you can't find the answer I doubt anybody else will!

[China Doll]

Rubs eyes and shakes head in disbelief

I thought you knew just about everything Quizmonster! :c)

[topogigo]

QM you are absolutely correct in not following this inane drivel that has been substituted for the Q"S E.
It irritates me so much, and when they start this accentuating the end of the sentence as though it were a question i feel like clubbing them with a hardback OED.
Then there is "And she turned round and said, and he turned round and said......"
Please someone help us we have suffered enough!

[delboy3]

He went, she went, he goes, she goes


aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhh!

[Quizmonster]

Yes, Smorodina, I remember the "Like, wow!" sort of structure, which probably dated back to the 1950s, but I don't think that's quite the same usage as I am asking about here. Your version was certainly American in origin and we Brits took it on via films/TV etc.
I was on a train journey recently, sitting opposite two girls of around 17 or 18. Naturally, they nattered non-stop throughout the trip! A lot of their talk consisted of reporting conversations each had had with others. Here is the sort of thing I mean...
"And I was like, 'So what did you do about it?' and she was like, "Well I told her I wouldn't put up with it" and I was like, "What did she say to that?" and she was like, ...and so forth.
That represents effectively one sentence spoken by one person, you understand! Clearly, "I was like" = "I said."
Despite your kind comment, China, I really dont know when or why it developed. And - as I have said here on AB often before - you could fill hangars with stuff I don't know!
Topogigo's reference to the question-tone at the end of what are actually statements - known as a High Rising Terminal (HRT) - is certainly an australianism brought here by the likes of Neighbours and similar soapy nonsenses. It also applies to certain American dialects, I believe.
I just hoped someone might be able to be as specific about "I was like..." Thanks for your responses.

[jno]

It was certainly around 50 years ago, QM (though I can't say if it was so in Britain). It is rather hard to describe grammatically, but it may suggest 'I said something like...' - ie a summary of my statement, put into direct speech and yet not guaranteed to be an exact quotation.

[Lucy Thomas]

I don't know where it came from but the sooner it goes back there the happier many people, myself included, will be.

[Skreecheeboy]

I think it's here for good, haven't you ever said "then I was like before?" I mean, I agree that it is heard a lot but I'd be surprised if you'd never used the phrase yourselves.

[Quizmonster]

Nice idea, J...that could be the origin, but who on earth first thought of using such a structure?

Again though, Skreecheeboy, that is not the same use of 'was like' as the one I am asking about. Your example simply means 'as', which is quite normal - if not strictly correct - usage...ie it means "I was as I used to be..."
(Personally, I would always say, "I was as before" in such circumstances and never 'like'.)

[Skreecheeboy]

Sorry Quizmonster, I got the quotation marks in the wrong place earlier. Was supposed to read "then I was like....." eg. "I was like so ****** off with myself for misquoting myself earlier on."

[jno]

you have me there, Quizmonster - I haven't seen it anywhere in print to provide a date or any evidence of how it developed; I suspect that until recently it was just too infra dig for anyone to write it down. But I do remember it being pretty common among children in my own youth, and that era has long passed into history, so it's by no means a recent usage.

[shaneystar2]

Some like it ... Some don't !

http://www.reversingbabel.org/

Is interesting ..scroll down to Handout ..PDF file though .

[Quizmonster]

You've stumped me there, J. It most assuredly was not around in the days of my youth! Indeed, I can't recall ever hearing it until quite recently and I've never seen it in print either. (Maybe I just read the wrong newspapers and watch the wrong TV programmes.)

[Clanad]

As described by smorodina the term "like" originates as Valley Speak. Wikipedia has an entry that attributes the rise of the Valley Girls (pardon the mixed metaphor) to the era of the late 1980's to early 90's. I seem to remember the phenomena first rearing its empty head a little earlier than that. The locale was the San Fernando Valley of interior California near L.A. and the typical "Val" is described thusly "...The Valley Girl was prototypically a blonde-haired (though not necessarily naturally blonde) Caucasian. But the "Val" has evolved along with demographic changes, and many young women of different ethnicities have become part of the trend. A typical Valley Girl is usually considered to be attractive and sexually promiscuous..." As Q's question intimates, the most abrasive and jarring to the ear of all the "Val-speak" phrases was the use of "like". For some undefined reason, the term has persisted, morphing (in itself a Val-speak invention) into slightly different meaning and useage but still recognizable as the badge of an empty headed, self-absorbed, usually female of the blond persuasion, post-teenager of today. Other words and phrases that originated tribally include "Fer shur", "Totally" (pronounced toadalllly), and the ever present "Like, Oh my god", said in such a way that one's sure the young woman is about die of heat exhaustion...

[jno]

my youth was not spent in the same place as yours, I expect, Quizmonster. Shyness prevents me from saying just where, but it wasn't spent in America, or watching Australian (or any) TV.

And there's another thing, Clanad: when Valspeak first came to the world's attention, I was much amused to see that one supposed San Fernando neologism was 'Go bag your head' - since my mother had been telling me to do this very thing for more than 30 years.... with little effect, as you'll note.

[fredpuli47]

"I was like..." has its use. It suggests more than 'I said'. It conveys 'my tone, manner and thinking at that time is pithily summarised and described by the following precis of what I said' That's a lot from just 'was like' !

[Quizmonster]

Thanks for that, Shaney. I noted your link yesterday evening, but it appeared at precisely the witching hour at which I had arranged to meet someone in the pub! So, I have only just got around to it. Very interesting.
Presumably, had an earlier incidence of the phrase existed, there would not have been the very specific reference to teenage Glaswegian girls and the year 2001. It may, of course, have been around in speech in the USA, as C suggests, since the late 80s.
Certainly, there appears to be no reference to this usage under 'like' in The Oxford English Dictionary, published in the late 80s also. Accordingly, I'm a bit puzzled by your dating of it, J.
Of course, I don't know how old you are! My own teenage years were spent in the 50s and - despite being around teenage girls...professionally! professionally!..much more recently - I can honestly say I never heard it earlier than five years ago.
But there we go. I've decided I'm putting 'I was like...' down to "Glesca lassies in the 90s". Thank you all for your responses.

[jno]

Quizmonster, I'm non-British, growing up perhaps in an area where OED informants and philologists in general seldom ventured. But the dictionaries work only from published sources. As I say, it was always a kind of unconventional use - normal enough among kids but not the sort of thing an adult would write down - possibly not even when trying to imitate street talk, because I suspect it's one of those usages that literally go unnoticed. (Even kids in books speak the Queen's English, like the Famous Five; in those days nobody tried to replicate actual usage and even now few writers would bother transcribing the umms and errs that actually constitute spoken English.)

[Thunderbird+]

I think the 'L' word was born somewhere east of LA and started in the 50s and 60s but went into a decline and almost faded out,until it made a come-back in recent years (as words often do) and this time round the usage is much wider.
The reason (I believe) you dont see it in print much is because it's very much a visual thing also, and is usually followed be exagerated facial expressions and hand movements, a couple of examples I dreamed up are- "She let her bath robe fall to the floor and I was like" or " I opened the fridge door and it stank and I was like" Lots of eye rolling hand waving and nose pinching going on to make the listener feel like they were almost there, taking part in the experience.