No offense, but, like, that shirt is kinda ugly, you know?
Sound familiar? Well, unless you've been living under a rock for the last god-knows-how-long-when, then this should be all too prevalent in modern pop culture. But, if you're anything like me, then you're one of those people who hates it when people say stuff like that. Not only does it contradict what you are really trying to say, but it also distracts the person from hearing what you have to say; it also sometimes comes across as, like, you know, mean and inconsiderate.
I started to reflect on this a while back, and I thought that it was finally time to write a formal blog post about it. I'd watched this random, but funny, video about the phrase "no offense" and how it's being used more often to deliberately insult the person you are talking to. This is how it sounds like to me, whenever I hear it being said:
No offense, I think you're failing English, but, you know, you can't be angry at me because I said "no offense".
No offense, people, but "no offense" isn't a passport to insult other people. Especially girls. More specifically your mom.
Oh but to make it all the more wonderful, "they" (I use "they" lightly here) talk in that obnoxious valley girl accent with a need to ultimately pronounce the word "like" every other, like, word. LIKE is not an interjection that you can use to fill in the spaces within words and thoughts. Please don't use the word as a filler; it will lose its meaning. It's not too terribly difficult to do so. Throughout this rant/lecture thingy, have you seen/read an instance where I used the word "like" the way it wasn't intended to be used? No, not once. But since I'm a total hypocrite and bas+ard hybrid, I'm gonna say that I
don't talk like this in real life. I'm not trying to berate anyone. So please, don't be offended. If anything, I'm insulting myself as well as the majority of teen population.
This can't be seen in just girls; guys, too, may have this diction. But as we grow older and more mature, the way we speak, the vocabulary we use, and almost everything, or at least a great majority of how we talk changes. Interestingly enough, I've noted that the highest 10% (more or less) of teenagers considered "smart and mature" actually don't use the word "like" when they speak. But that is only from opinion and experience. But, of course, that is coming from someone who enjoys herself with immaturity.
Oh and we forgot to, you know, talk about "you know".
The thing is, I
don't know. I understand that you can have brainfarts or something that you just can't recall or remember, but slapping on the "you know" in the sentence won't help matters. If anything, you will either get your point across with minimum confusion, or you
won't get your point across at all and chaos breaks lose. Similar to "like", "you know" is not and should not be used as an interjection. It confuses the person!
Examples:
"Can you me get the.. the.. the.. you know! I need it for the... uh... the thing!"
"When is the thing?" "The what?" "You know, the thing. The thing that we have to get ready for." "THE WHAT!?" "YOU KNOW!"
"Whatcha gonna be for Halloween?" "Oh well, you know" "I do?" "Yea, I showed it to you. I'm gonna be the... well you know."
==========================
Did I get my point across?
Well that's good, I hope you learned as much as I did when I started to research this.
Yes I research stuff like this (I have no life).
But if you're anything like me, then you probably got absolutely no substance from this whole post. And for that, I commend you for your ability to stay awake long enough to finish :)
Well see y'all in another post!
Thanks for reading/following me! It's nice to know that some people read what I publish <3
-florescka
