When did people, like, start saying “like”?

[WiganNorthWest]

I, like, find myself saying ‘like’ quite a bit to, like, fill pauses when I’m talking, kinda like saying ‘um’. I don’t know many people under like age 20 but I know a lot of people in their twenties do this. Do you ever, like, catch yourself doing this (and how old are you?). Do you ever notice older people doing this-I don’t ? When did this way of speaking start? Do,like, young kids speak like this?

Like, it's been around for years! Like, I'm 33 and sometimes still do it's. Like, it's so bloody annoying like but I can't help it like!

Very annoying, nearly as annoying as people who finish sentences in a raised tone, as if they were asking a question, like....

I’m 54 and do it. I always recall people doing it. I don’t think people do it in purpose of that helps.

A very long time..maybe 20 years??

about mid to late 90s, I think Friends or some other American show had something to do with it

I believe it was Friends that made that a thing.

90s...

, 1982-ish.

But no idea about when British picked it up.

Lol I'm early 30s I can't remember when I didn't say it 😅 am not British though

I sent a voice note to friends the other day and couldn't believe how many times I said it 🥴

I'm 30 and remember saying it in my teens... I think it was Friends like others said, but also Saved By The Bell.

I'm 40 and I can remember my 1st year (year 7!) teacher hauling us all up on it.

So it was already annoying to English teachers in 1990.

I went through a phase of doing this as a teenager, and I'm 40 now!

I think it's a rite of passage.

I'd say mid 80s. I studied English Language in the late 80s and we studied the development of the language, accents, spoken English. David Beckham was an exemplar for using "like" as a filler. I was always told not to do it growing up.

I'm 50 and I find myself using 'like' and 'literally' and I like, literally hate myself for it.

I also despise myself when I hear myself finish a sentence with a rising inflection.

My teenagers don't speak this way yet call me a boomer. They say 'calm' about everything and they're very calm.

I hate myself.

Definitely 20 years +

I remember having a conversation about it with my then boyfriend about when did saying "like" become a "thing".

My DH does it when on the phone. It really annoys me. I then repeat it back to him every time he says it to underline how often he’s doing it, because he says he’s not. Then he gets annoyed

Don't know, but it's really, really annoying.

@WiganNorthWest

I, like, find myself saying ‘like’ quite a bit to, like, fill pauses when I’m talking, kinda like saying ‘um’. I don’t know many people under like age 20 but I know a lot of people in their twenties do this. Do you ever, like, catch yourself doing this (and how old are you?). Do you ever notice older people doing this-I don’t ? When did this way of speaking start? Do,like, young kids speak like this?

My old head teacher at high school used to say it was a 'Preston thing' and held it over us like he was a higher being and we were lesser.

I'm 51 and people have always filled gaps with 'like' in all my living memory.

I've noticed recently I've not grown out of doing this and it probably makes me sound very immature. I'm really trying hard to stop it. I'm in my mid 30s and remember my parents and their friends complaining about young people doing it.

1990s, Clueless film is my first memory of it

The first time I noticed it was as a 14 year old watching My So Called Life. I'm 38 now, so it's been a while. I use it far too much. I, like, hardly notice any more

It happened when I was at secondary school in the 80s. I'm fine with "Like".🤷‍♀️ I hate "Basically".😡

People have been using those sort of fillers since speech began. It won't obviously have been 'like', perhaps more 'um', but that is what it is, as you form your thoughts. Speech is quite a complex process.