Re:The Linguistic Evolution of ‘Like’
by Declanomous on Monday November 28, 2016 @01:18PM
(#13057276)
I've spent a lot of time in rural Wisconsin and Minnesota, and that particular usage of the word like is still common, even among younger individuals. My roommate in college was from a really small town in Minnesota, and he'd describe things as "All [adjective]-like". He used like in the other manners as well though.
You see this usage commonly around parts of England, particularly among some of the northwestern dialects like Scouse.
Re:The Linguistic Evolution of ‘Like’
by Declanomous on Monday November 28, 2016 @04:31PM
(#13058609)
Interesting. My roommate is from somewhere in northern England; I'll have to pay attention for this in the future. His parents speak with received pronunciation though, so I suspect he has fewer colloquialisms in his speech than the general population of wherever he's from. He contends that his accent and figures of speech wouldn't be recognized as English at this point, but every American I know pegs him as British almost instantly, so who knows.
Han Solo: "Then we'll do it real quiet like". Return of the Jedi.
Maybe it's an old Norse/Germanic loan?
The -lig/-lik suffix appears in all Scandinavian languages with similar usage: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-lig
My grandfather uses "like" often, but only in this way (he grew up in Depression-era semi-rural Canada). I've always found that interesting since I rarely see that usage mentioned.
Anyone else have older relatives who use "like" this way?