Editing Like (section)

=== As a colloquial quotative ===
''Like'' is sometimes used [[colloquial]]ly as a [[quotative]] to introduce a quotation or impersonation.  This is also known as "quotation through simile". The word is often used to express that what follows is not an exact quotation but instead gives a general feel for what was said. In this usage, ''like'' functions in conjunction with a verb, generally  ''be'' (but also ''say'', ''think'', etc.), as in the following examples:<ref name="mcwhorter">{{cite web |last1=McWhorter |first1=John |title=The Evolution of 'Like' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/the-evolution-of-like/507614/ |website=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=5 May 2020 |date=November 25, 2016}}</ref>

* He was like, "I'll be there in five minutes."
* She was like, "You need to leave the room right now!"

''Like'' can also be used to paraphrase an implicitly unspoken idea or sentiment:

* I was like, "Who do they think they are?"

The marking of [[past tense]] is often omitted (compare [[historical present]]):

* They told me all sorts of terrible things, and I'm like "Forget it then."<ref>Quoted from: Daniel P. Cullen, ''"I'm Learning as I Go, and I Don't Like That": Urban Community College Students' College Literacy'', ProQuest, 2008, p. 210.</ref>

It is also sometimes used to introduce non-verbal mimetic performances, e.g., facial expressions, hand gestures, body movement, as well as sounds and noises:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/01/25/linguists-are-like-get-used/ruUQoV0XUTLDjx72JojnBI/story.html |title=Linguists are like, 'Get used to it!' |work=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref>

* I was like [speaker rolls eyes].
* The car was like, "vroom!"

The use of ''like'' as a quotative is known to have been around since at least the 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blyth |first1=Carl |last2=Recktenwald |first2=Sigrid |last3=Wang |first3=Jenny |title=I'm like, "Say What?!": A New Quotative in American Oral Narrative |journal=American Speech |date=1990 |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=215–227 |doi=10.2307/455910|jstor=455910 }}</ref>

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