The hill I will die on: I really don’t like ‘like’ – or other imprecise and redundant speech
Junk speak, like junk food, encourages verbal littering. It has to be one of the worst things about life in Britain
TL;DR
- The author is highly critical of 'junk speak,' a form of imprecise and redundant language.
- This trend is compared to junk food and its association with littering.
- The overuse of filler words like 'like,' 'sort of,' and 'um' makes speech rambling and difficult to follow.
- The author contrasts the current state of language with a more classical, structured approach to sentence construction.
- The influence of regional dialects and accents is also discussed, with a lament for the loss of traditional dialects.
- The author believes this linguistic trend negatively impacts communication and is a sign of decline in national discourse.