So, I just moved to D.C. and LIKE...

[r small]

Yeah, it's just kidspeak. Hopefully as kids get older they learn to speak in something resembling standard English.

[LunaticVillage]

Yes, young White women raised in safe predominantly White suburban environments do say "like" a lot. Its a second-nature nuanced cultural thing. Sort of like how Black dudes from Baltimore say "yo" in every sentence and even refer to people as "yo" (i.e. "yo said that"). Just like how young Black dudes in DC and PG County call everyone a "bamma" even if the said "bamma" is ironically from a place like New York City. But I think the valley girl speak among young White females is much more widespread than you are willing to admit and is not limited to DC and California.

[r small]

Fer sure.

[DTL3000]

Maybe this will put it in context. Apparently, whatever they are saying, or however they are saying it, you may be doing five or 10 years from now if you're a guy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/sc...pagewanted=all

Ehhhh, this stuff I'm talking about has been around at least since the 80's. There was a movie made and Frank Zappa wrote a song about it.

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I noticed that too in NYC in the Upper East Side...I always associate it with yuppie havens of the city. But I think it comes from non-East Coast people who move East....I think.

I never noticed that among anyone else than the yuppie professionalism areas which seems to attract people nation-wise.

I didn't really spend much time in the Upper East and West Sides when I lived in NYC. Maybe that's why I didn't notice that many people speaking that way. And NYC has it's own way of speaking that sort of crosses demographics.

Originally Posted by terrence81

I agree. Who cares?

And it's not a "problem". That's how some people talk and it probably isn't intentional.

I never said it was a problem, but I think it's a little annoying and I just think it's just strange how prevalent it is here among what seem to be well-educated young women. It sounds like ditzy teenager talk.

Originally Posted by terrence81

Well like you like totally cares?

Not me. This is petty and inane. If you're getting upset and annoyed over someone's voice and speech patterns then you have the problem not them.

I'm not getting upset about it. It's pretty obvious my first post was tongue-in-cheek. Sorry that it whizzed on by you like that.

Originally Posted by LunaticVillage

Yes, young White women raised in safe predominantly White suburban environments do say "like" a lot. Its a second-nature nuanced cultural thing. Sort of like how Black dudes from Baltimore say "yo" in every sentence and even refer to people as "yo" (i.e. "yo said that"). Just like how young Black dudes in DC and PG County call everyone a "bamma" even if the said "bamma" is ironically from a place like New York City. But I think the valley girl speak among young White females is much more widespread than you are willing to admit and is not limited to DC and California.

I didn't say it wasn't common in other places. I'm just surprised at how common it is here. Maybe I give DC women too much credit and maybe I overestimated the percentage who may have attended finishing school or something.

Some of you guys need to lighten up...

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

If there is one thing I've noticed about this city, it's the prevalence of "Valley Girl" speak. I swear, some women use "like" for every other word. It's particularly bad around Dupont Circle. It wasn't even this ubiquitous in California. It drives me insane.

"Like, we were like, OMG shoes! And like, they were all like, "Like WTF?!""

Does anyone have an explanation?

This very annoying way of speaking is a nationwide tragedy. I'm looking for places where people DON'T talk like this.

[hot_in_dc]

To me, it's not necessarily a valley girl speak, just a high pitched sing-song sort of tone. And the intonation placed at the end of a statement? Turning statements into questions? Like that's really annoying?