jakit

Not Cool

Seventeen times the Oakland Athletics have sent aces Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito to the mound in a three-game series. They've been swept just twice. Both times at Yankee Stadium. Both times with the exact dates, April 27-29 --- Oakland Tribune

Impressionistic Language

I was thinking about the word "like" and how many people, especially older folks, disparage its use. Yet, I don't see it as a bad thing. In fact, I think it is part of a positive movement in our culture from the formal and to the casual, and more importantly, towards a more impressionistic way of communicating.

The obvious example would be of painting in the late 19th Century shifting from the literal portrayal of something to the artist's impression of it. But it has occured in other areas as well, including our everyday way of speaking.

If you break down what the word "like" actually represents, it's a shortening of the phrase "what really happened was ___, but it felt like ___." In other words, you eliminate what really happened and cut straight to how you felt about what happened.

"There were several people at the show, but it felt like it was empty" becomes "it was, like, empty".

There is no need to explain what happened. Who cares how many people were actually there? What's important was that it felt empty, and consequently, the show was a disaster.

It's an important shift, because we, as a culture, are moving away from the literal for a reason. Perhaps, because there is no literal. Or, at least, there is very little that can be interpreted as literal.

On the other hand, there is much that is merely opinion but is propagated as fact, often for political and nefarius reasons.

Certain people currently refer to certain other people as terrorists. However, that is simply their impression of them. To others, they are freedom fighters. Therefore, no person is literally a terrorist, but instead some people are "like" terrorists in the impression of other people.

In sum, I heartily encourage the use of the word "like" and I think our generation was onto something in the early 80's.