As in "Steve grabbed the book, and he was like 'This is a better movie!' and I was like 'It's totally a better movie!'"

I have a lot of fondness for that usage. Also the similar application of "all". As in "so I was all, 'I have to see what book they're talking about' but I didn't want to interrupt."

Ditto with the "was like" and "was all" to mean "said."

I just had the thing where I saw someone in the hallway and went, "CRAP! You need something from me. What is it?"

Ditto with the "was like" and "was all" to mean "said."

Yep. I'm like, "So I was like," all the time. I don't think I use "was all" as much.

I'm an English major and everything.

I'm an English major and everything.

Journalism here, but I think they would prefer not to claim me.

I am all verbal tics and swearing.

I like like as a telling verb, because I feel that it has "(paraphrasing)" built right into the definition.

Oh, no, he didn't literally say that. But he was totally like that.

Dude. Brinicle ice finger of death is my favourite headline of the morning: [link]

I like like as a telling verb, because I feel that it has "(paraphrasing)" built right into the definition.

Me too. When I use like, I am usually a) paraphrasing b) trying to transmit the essence of what was said and the mood or emotion and c) using a put on voice and hand gestures.

I say all those things except literally. When my sister was a kid, my mom called her Literal Laura because she loved to call people out on their usage of the word, or deliberately misinterpret metaphors. And now her kids do the same thing. It's not all that surprising that a kid who loved that kind of wordplay grew up to be a linguist.

I use "like" to approximate, both in paraphrasing quotes and to indicate uncertainty in specificity. "There were, like, ten cops there."

I use like, was like, was all, totally, Seriously? and Really? (in the are you effing kidding me with that sense), and for a while I could not agree with someone without saying, "I know, right?" but I've more or less stopped that. (And I picked that up here, which is weird... like, I translated it into spoken word, and then started using it. Freak).

But I don't use literally as an intensifier.

God, if my niece uses "legit" any more than she does right now, it will, heh, literally be in every sentence she utters. That's the only one that grates on my nerves at the moment.

I love shortened words, too. The first time I saw "totes," it was love. (Pretty sure it was bon bon here.)

Brinicle ice finger of death is my favourite headline of the morning: [link]

That video is freaky.