LINGUIST List 2.684

Sun 20 Oct 1991

Disc: (S)he Goes Like

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Directory

1. , I'm like...
2. Ricky Jacobs, Re: 2.672 (S)he goes
3. , Re: 2.672 (S)he goes
4. Fran Karttunen, all____

In regard to the current discussion -- there's an article in American
Speech (1990, vol 65 no 3 pp 213-227) by Carl Blyth, Jr., Sigrid
Recktenwald & Jenny Wang, "I'm like, "say what?!": a new quotative
in American oral narrative" with some interesting points. The authors
don't find anyone over 32 using "be like" as a quotative, and I would
definitely question that -- I know a number of 40-year-olds (in
California) who use it. They don't mention any occurrence of "be all"
as a quotative, but I've certainly heard it -- is it very new?
very rare? very casual? And what about "they were all like....."??
-- Margaret Luebs, University of Michigan

Message 2: Re: 2.672 (S)he goes

Here in Hawai'i I hear many teenagers using something that sounds like "I'm all"
 and "(s)he's all to introduce a direct quotation "(s)he's all". I haven't been
 able to get it in second person or plural forms.

Message 3: Re: 2.672 (S)he goes

 Fantome de l'Opera' de Gaston Leroux <ECMILLERucs.indiana.edu>
>Date: Thu, 17 Oct 91 10:06 EST
>From: Erik Carvalhal Miller <ECMILLERIUBACS.BITNET>
>Subject: like, 'round and 'round she goes
>>I've done a little data collection and analysis of "I'm like," and "He's
>>like." I think it's different from "go" in that "go" is really a verb of
>>quotation, whereas "like" involves at best paraphrase, and in the case
>>of "I'm like" can simply reveal the person's thoughts rather than words
>>(these observations are of people 18-30 -- "like" may have evolved further
>>in the younger generation). So you get sentences like (1)
>>
>>(1) I'm like "Give me a break."
>
>I'm twenty-one years old, and the above observations fit my intuitions exactly.
Later, the very same day I sent out this message, I went to my part-time job at
a university cafeteria. A cart I wheeled out of the dishwashing room was
especially chock-full of clean plates, and I was a little frustrated as I kept
putting tens and tens of plates away, so I said:
 It's like, these dishes are comin' out of nowhere!
I immediately realized my submission to LINGUIST was incomplete; "be like" as a
verb characterizing a situation can take an impersonal object as well.
 It was like, nobody wanted to volunteer his time. [or "their time"]
 It's like, I'm totally confused.
 It was like, he had no idea what was goin' on.
It's like, I'm outahere.
Erik Carvalhal Miller
ECMILLERIUBACS.INDIANA.EDU
Indiana University (Bloomington)

It seems to me that there might be a potential evolution of the use of
copula + "all" as illustrated in these sentences:
She's all wet.
She's all upset.
She's all shivering and sobbing.
She's all "boo hoo hoo."
She's all "<quote>"
What I haven't (yet) heard is "like" or "all" with no vestige of the copula,
but maybe it's out there.
Fran Karttunen