He, like, totally has,...
"Alex has tried to escape his family ties by going into business as an emerging markets fund manager without using any of his Godman connections or money, but unfortunately someone circulates false rumours that he, like, totally has, and his investors start to desert."
(The Guardian.)
Is "like" an adverb meaning "indeed/quite likely" in the sentence above?
Top answer
It seems to be largely a meaningless filler, designed to mimic the way some people meaninglessly insert "like" into their utterances. I'm not exactly sure why the author has chosen to do this. To me it tends to look as if the author is slightly denigrating or sneering at the subject matter, but looking at the overall article, I see that the review is overall mostly positive.
- It seems to be largely a meaningless filler, designed to mimic the way some people meaninglessly insert "like" into their utterances.
- I'm not exactly sure why the author has chosen to do this.
- To me it tends to look as if the author is slightly denigrating or sneering at the subject matter, but looking at the overall article, I see that the review is overall mostly positive.
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It seems to be largely a meaningless filler, designed to mimic the way some people meaninglessly insert "like" into their utterances. I'm not exactly sure why the author has chosen to do this. To me it tends to look as if the author is slightly denigrating or sneering at the subject matter, but looking at the overall article, I see that the review is overall mostly positive.
0It's slang. "Like, totally" is Valley Girl/Surfer for "completely" or "certainly". Why that appears in a British newspaper column is beyond me.
0
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