“I’m like…”

Cabbie21

Just to reassure people that I did not react in any way in her presence or afterwards about the way the girlfriend spoke. I was just a bit surprised, and venting a little here.
She seems to be a very pleasant girl and GS is happy with her.

Re your comment about athletes.
Amy Hunt obviously passed you by.
Not only did she win 4 golds last week, she’s also studying at Cambridge.
I wonder if she repeats to her friends some of the odd comments you make.

My friend used to keep saying , " I'm on it , like a car bonnet " . Drove me mad . Obviously spending too much time with the Grandchildren . Later progressed to , D'ya know what I mean , after every sentence . 😫.

No, Estrellita, it’s not a regional thing, it’s almost universal amongst young people in the UK. It’s a sort of “cool” verbal habit which I think might be a filler for momentary hesitation, a tiny pause for gathering their thoughts.

I think we all have ways of slowing things down to gather our thoughts in conversation. A common one is “well….”, frequently used to pause for an instant before speaking.

I counted the Maths teacher saying “ Do you see?” 92 times in one lesson.

In my day it was "y'know". I remember counting how many times the biology teacher said it in a double period. It was 101. You don't hear it much nowadays, so perhaps "like" will die out eventually.

Just to reassure people that I did not react in any way in her presence or afterwards about the way the girlfriend spoke. I was just a bit surprised, and venting a little here.
She seems to be a very pleasant girl and GS is happy with her.

As soon as she says "I'm like..." jump in and say "like what?"

As Hithere says.
And allow her to choose how she speaks which may or may not be to your liking.

I have never heard anyone say 'I'm like'. Is it a regional thing?

As Magenta8 says at the beginning of the thread, it's verbal tics and, imo, more often than not meant as a kind of conversational shorthand to stress the meaning of what they're saying.

Over 60 years ago all four of the Beatles used "like" as a filler and at the end of sentences. In fact, it was such a Liverpudlian thing almost everyone you met from there said it with that so typical Scouse back of the throat k, like!

Absolutely nothing to do with intelligence or lack of, some people have an ear for verbal rhythms and incorporate tics into their own speech just like picking up different regional accents.

I think we all have these irritations, as with OP ‘like’ is a pet hate of mine but it is surpassed almost every blooming day by those people , particularly on afternoon quiz shows who firstly big up their education / occupation then spoil the effect by starting every single sentence with SO. Its extremely annoying.

However back to the subject, best to keep opinions to oneself.

He said, being used throughout discourse,
ie ‘he’ said,’ ‘ well he said, he said ‘ and finally ‘he turned round and said’).
I imagine a lot of twirling … drives me mad. 😠

She is speaking properly, just using current forms of expression

Cabbie21

I was shocked and disgusted by your inference that
'the successful GB athlete might be a bear of very little brain '.

This says a lot about you!

I’ve not heard ‘I’m like …’ for years! Was common to say that about 40 years ago!

My partner, when relating a story to me, always says 'I'm not exaggerating' and I want to say 'why would I think you were exaggerating?'.

No-one becomes a successful GB athlete without being highly intelligent, as well as supremely talented, dedicated and fit. Don't denigrate our athletes!

My lung physician says ‘does that make sense?’ constantly throughout our consultation and it drives me mad. Am I supposed to answer every time, but I don’t think so because he’s then quickly on to his next sentence. Grrr

My DH’s go to is ‘I’m sorry but’ before disagreeing with something, really irritates me…..why is he sorry. Noticed DS using the same expression yesterday !!

Would you expect this girl to wear what you wore when young, do what you did, think what you thought, as well as speaking as you do?
She was probably nervous at meeting you and she probably thought you stiff and critical.

You know ( ate a k in second know)

This fashion is "only" 20 years old.

If your grandson is not willing to introduce you to another friend of his, now you now the reason.

Dear me.
You only met your grandson's girlfriend for the first time yesterday, and already you are voicing critical thoughts about her. She is apparently intelligent so clearly suitable for your equally intelligent grandson, but my dear, the language!

Your problem, not hers.

Cabbie21

The thing is, I’m not being rude but…. are fillers, albeit with certain overtones. Normally what follows makes sense anyway.

“I’m like” does not grammatically fit what follows. Sometimes it makes nonsense, as in “ I’m like I was on my way to town when…”.
I mentioned her education because she evidently knows well enough how to form correct sentences and convey coherent thoughts. My grandson rarely uses “I’m like”. His Mum never does. His sister does occasionally though only when talking to people her age, not to older relatives.

If it’s a fashion, I hope it dies out soon.

It’s not a fashion it’s been around at least back to The Only Way is Essex first aired. That was 2010