Editor’s note: This column was first published in September 2017.
Maybe I am getting old. I remember a time when TV and water were free and porn cost money. Now I’m certainly not a “grammar nazi” or a word-nerd, especially given the locker-room opinions I spew weekly. But people out there really need to focus on cleaning up their language, especially as it relates to overusing three words that are dumbing down the English language: “like,” “literally” and “amazing.”
For the 40-and-unders out there, you know how you use the word “like” in, like, every other sentence? Don’t!
When folks my age, those who can remember when Elton John was married to a woman, interview you for a job, the use of the word “like” as some filler word is maddening. And when done in a high-pitched, nasal, Kardashian-Valley Girl way, it’s akin to torture. It makes you seem imprecise and, quite frankly, stupid.
Please, stop it.