like...like...like...



WSJ.com - The Campaign Against 'Like'



The Campaign Against 'Like'



As Ex-Valley Girls (and Boys)

Move Up the Ladder, Pressure

Grows to Sound Professional



By ANDREA PETERSEN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL



In Suzanne Loudamy's house, the word 'like' is under siege.



When her 18-year-old daughter, Sarah, speaks, Ms. Loudamy holds up her hands to count how often the word leaves her mouth.



'My mom talks about how it's not, like, professional and says I'll look stupid,' says Sarah Loudamy. 'But someday everybody my age will be in the professional world with me. If they're saying 'like' too, I won't stand out.'



Two decades after the song 'Valley Girl' popularized it, a fresh effort is afoot to stamp out this linguistic quirk. The generation that grew up saying 'like' is hitting adulthood -- and the work force. As a result, it is now in the lexicon of investment bankers, doctors and even teachers, where it can sound especially jarring. 'I'm sure I say, 'like' a lot,' says Liza Sutherland, 28, a sixth-grade humanities teacher in New York. 'I don't worry so much about how my students speak.'