AIBU to correct the way people speak?

[Sarahlou63]

Not a grammar Nazi but I host lots of volunteers and I have grown to hate, hate, hate the word 'like'. (Most are 18-25, female and British/European/American).

"I was, like, going to, like, my friend's and she was, like, late so, like, I was really, like, cross with her." Arrrrgggghhhhh!!!

I've started, like, really calling them out, like, on using the L word or am I going to stunt their emotional growth, like?!?

Meh I think it's fine to gently point it out. As a young adult I didn't realise I used "like" as much as I did until it was pointed out to me.

Going against the grain here.
The use of like, like makes you sound dumb, like if you use it like all the time like...

I do mention it to my dd if used excessively - I don't want it to become normalised speech with her!
YANBU - doing people a favour

I'd like to send my 17 year old to you for some lovely farm experience and the added benefit of you knocking the likes out of her. I think you should offer it as an added benefit free of charge.

I had a friend repeat words I would say and smirk saying ‘really?’ Yes really I grew up inAyrshire and use a lot of that dialect and always thoughtshe was an utter bitch as she made it obvious she thought she was better than me. We also had an argument about ‘het’ I said ‘het up’ and she said ‘het,really, that’s not a word!’ Actually it is!

@fourquenelles

thank you for that clip - I've never seen it and I really needed a laugh

Lively discussion followed here tonight, one French, one very well spoken Brit (both 18) and one older Mancuncian. General feeling was that we use fillers (like like) because everyone must have an instant opinion on everything and the brain can't keep up with the mouth.

Interesting

I hate the overuse of 'like' but I'm also aware that I do it myself! Not to the extent that many do but definitely too much.

YABU to correct people though; it makes you (general you, not specifically you) look really arrogant unless you have a particular reason to be correcting someone or are their mother.

I'm a teacher and I correct children's spoken English sometimes. Once I accidentally corrected an adult out of school (sort of automatic response I didn't override in time, I suppose). I was mortified and apologised profusely.

I really dislike it and agree it makes people sound thick. I don't think you can really comment on it to strangers though. I also really dislike the use of 'calling people out' as a phrase. 'Correcting people' is better.

I'm guilty of saying like too much. Someone saying something to me wouldn't change how I talk though.

If you were a manager in a customer-facing organisation then yeah, sure. In this circumstance: no of course YABU.

You forgot to put lighthearted in your thread title, OP

I give you ‘like’ and raise you ‘literally’. In the same sentence. Literally, like, consecutively.

I hate it too OP. The problem with being surrounded by it is that it is catching! I've started beginning some sentences with "So" which I also hate! I correct my 12yo Dd on using 'like' and I think I've got through...Well, I hope so.

I think Liverpudlian's use 'like' a lot, don't they? Maybe it has finally filtered its way down south.

And 'het' is definitely a word :)

@fourquenelles
Love Miriam Margolyes!

And just fell in love with Will.i.am.

Thanks for sharing

Grace212 and Yabbers you are welcome. I fell in love a bit with Will.i.Am after watching him on this too.

Do they also speak as if everything’s a question?

It annoys the hell out of me, OP.

Although, even more annoying is people on here using terms such as “call them out” and “give your head a wobble”.

Now that is the language of utter fuckwits.

@RiverTam - soz!

It was lighthearted so quite unexpected to be call a prick and a cunt within moments but not perturbed in the slightest. The volunteers I like take it in good part, the volunteers I don't like sadly have to leave at short notice as my poor sick mother needs their room...

RiverTam did you know the OED has added a definition to the entry for literally to include the use where it's not actually... Er... Literal?!?! It irritates me every time I remember

RiverTam did you know the OED has added a definition to the entry for literally to include the use where it's not actually... Er... Literal?!?! It irritates me every time I remember

So they volunteer to help you out and then you send them home with no notice on the basis of a lie?

Well language and speech patterns are evolving all the time and vary across the country (that’s what makes them so interesting!). It could be argued that what you deem as wrong is just how people talk nowadays.
Personally if you corrected me in conversation I’d be polite but would utterly write you off in my head 😬

Language changes and evolves over time, it’s not ‘wrong’ just because you don’t like it

I was once given a lecture on idiosyncrasies. By someone who said, "yeah?" after every single bloody sentence

@NormaTheHippo

Absolutely. This is a busy farm and if they don't want to get up in the morning or they think cutting brambles is beneath them then I have no problem faking it to send them on their way. On the other hand I have gifted a horse to a volunteer, and would take 90% of them back in a heartbeat if they had a crisis.

OP one of my favourite fellow volunteers used to constantly correct the usage of "like" and the erm, like. He did it in such a curmudgeonly tone that it amused me greatly to insert the word into like literally every sentence I could until like he literally combusted. So beware, the volunteer you like might seek revenge 😂 😂 😂

I hate Miriam Margolyes. She's not an eccentric little old lady. She's an incredibly rude and vulgar nasty woman.