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It’s like, you know, whatever

I am on a personal mission to eradicate all three of those phrases (“like,” “you know,” and “whatever”) from my vocabulary. I should also throw in “blah, blah, blah.” As that one seems to be a sore point, too.

It’s not that I’m not intelligent, and it’s not that I don’t try. I do. Honest. But I use all of those phrases entirely too often. And I think my editor is getting tired of telling me, “no, I don’t know what ‘whatever’ means, Meranda.” A force of habit I’ll need to break very soon.

I used to get daily lectures from my law professor on using the word like. I know I wasn’t alone in receiving the lecture, so I think it was also part of his mission to eradicate it from the entire student body’s vocabulary. I wish I’d listened more. Though, as I tried to explain to said editor, I have honestly gotten a lot better. I don’t sound like a “valley girl” per se, I just don’t sound as smart or professional as I could. But then, I think it’s a generational thing, because I don’t know one of my peers who doesn’t say any of those phrases more often than necessary.

Either way, it’s time to you know, like, get over my affinity for said phrases, or whatever.

4 Responses to “It’s like, you know, whatever”

  1. Jessica Says:

    I need to do this too. Good luck!

  2. Jaclyn Says:

    I feel the need to say this b/c I was so proud of myself for doing so: I stopped saying “like” after Tim talked to us at an SPJ meeting. I always thought it sounded so lame, and it was much easier to break myself of the habit than I thought it would be. A suggestion: Anytime you want to say “like,” take a pause. I found that I used it when I was trying to think, and the silence made me uncomfortable. When I talk to people, the silence is considerably less annoying than “like.” ‘Tis a noble quest you’re on — good luck!

  3. Meranda Says:

    Thanks for the advice and the good luck wishes.

    I’ve never encountered something I really wanted to do that I wasn’t able to accomplish. So, I’m confident once I actually take the time and put some effort into it, I’ll be able to at least significantly decrease the occurrence. I hope. :)

    And yeah, I didn’t get the SPJ group version of the lecture. It was always one on one personal attacks on my vocabulary. But the silence idea is a good one. I’ll practice that and let you know how it goes.

  4. Meranda Writes » Blog Archive » Responding to Google searches Says:

    […] the person who could be my editor, for all he makes fun of my vocabulary, searching for “Like, you know, whatever” and landing on the post aptly named that. (And as an update, I am getting better at the like usage. But “whatever” is a hard word to quit. ;) […]