Instant messaging, a synchronous form of typed, computer-mediated communication, is becoming more conversational, blurring the divide between face-to-face speech and writing, suggests a new study.
Evidence for the change includes the growing use of forms of “to be” combined with the word “like,” as in, “He was like, ‘It’s so interesting.’” The practice is commonly known as “Valley Girl speak,” but linguists refer to it as “be + like” or “quotative like.”
That is, like, the dumbest thing I’ve heard since I started saying “like” when I was twelve. In 1992. Way before IM.
[ It’s Like, IMing Is So Like Talking, via Discovery News ]
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