It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, and semi-suffix.
Like is one of the words in the English language that can introduce a simile (a stylistic device comparing two dissimilar ideas).
), as in the following examples:[5] Like can also be used to paraphrase an implicitly unspoken idea or sentiment: The marking of past tense is often omitted (compare historical present): It is also sometimes used to introduce non-verbal mimetic performances, e.g., facial expressions, hand gestures, body movement, as well as sounds and noises:[7] The use of like as a quotative is known to have been around since at least the 1980s.
Especially since the late 20th century onward, it has appeared, in addition to its traditional uses, as a colloquialism across all dialects of spoken English, serving as a discourse particle, signalling either a hedge indicating uncertainty, or alternatively a marker of focus signalling that what follows is new information[9] Although these particular colloquial uses of like became widespread among young students in the 1980s, its use as a filler is a fairly old regional practice in Welsh English and in Scotland; it was used similarly at least as early as the 19th century.
[11] Despite such prevalence in modern-day spoken English, these colloquial usages of like rarely appear in writing (unless the writer is deliberately trying to replicate colloquial dialogue) and they have long been stigmatized in formal speech or in high cultural or high social settings.
[12] In pop culture, such colloquial applications of like (especially in verbal excess) are commonly and often comedically associated with Valley girls, as made famous through the song "Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa, released in 1982, and the film of the same name, released in the following year.
The stereotyped "valley girl" language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by people who were young in the 1980s.
Very early use of this locution[citation needed] can be seen in a New Yorker cartoon of 15 September 1928, in which two young ladies are discussing a man's workplace: "What's he got – an awfice?"
It is also used in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by the narrator as part of his teenage slang and in the Top Cat cartoon series from 1961 to 1962 by the jazz beatnik type characters.
[5] Examples: In the UK reality television series Love Island the word 'like' has been used an average of 300 times per episode, much to the annoyance of viewers.