Editing 1483: Quotative Like

{{comic
| number    = 1483
| date      = February 6, 2015
| title     = Quotative Like
| image     = quotative_like.png
| titletext = God was like, "Let there be light," and there was light.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Megan]] mentions an article on the use of the word "{{w|Like#As a colloquial quotative|like}}" as a {{w|quotative}}. [[Cueball]] makes a joke on this by managing to use the word "like" three times in a seven word sentence.

The "quotative like" is regularly given as an example of the decline of the English language. It is used to introduce a quotation or impersonation, although what follows may not be a verbatim quote, but rather conveys the general meaning of the original phrase. Although it is modern in terms of the English language, examples of its use can be found all the way back in 1928. The song "[http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/loudon_wainwright_iii/cobwebs.html Cobwebs]" by the American singer-songwriter {{w|Loudon Wainwright III}} blames {{w|Jack Kerouac}} and ''{{w|The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis}}'' character {{w| Maynard G. Krebs}} for starting the vogue of using the word "like" as a quotative. In the early 1980s, the stereotypical {{w|Valley Girl}} made substantial use of the quotative like, which may be the main origin of its contemporary use.

In the second panel Megan mentions that, in a  [http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/01/25/linguists-are-like-get-used/ruUQoV0XUTLDjx72JojnBI/story.html newspaper article], the {{w|linguist}} [https://faculty.unt.edu/editprofile.php?pid=1485 Patricia Cukor-Avila] is like: "Eventually all the people who hate this kind of thing are going to be dead, and the ones who use it are going to be in control."

The author is presumably making the point that language is inherently fluid, and the meanings of words exist only by common understanding, which means that, as more and more people grow up with the new usage, it will become increasingly accepted. Most resistance will come from the older generation, which means it will diminish over time.  While it has long been popular to criticize modern developments that are seen as steps backward (see [[1227: The Pace of Modern Life]]), such criticisms are usually in vain, as they are typically made by the older generation against the younger generation, and the latter is always guaranteed to outlive the former{{Citation needed}}.

The quote, however, doesn't actually say ''why'' the older generation will die out, leading Cueball to speculate that Dr. Cukor-Avila is plotting (or warning of) some sort of {{w|genocide}} against people who dislike the use of the quotative like. Megan points out a much more likely interpretation (although this is not mentioned directly in the article), that those people will die of old age, but Cueball persists, saying he'll err on the side of caution and make sure to use the quotative like more often, thereby hoping to be spared from the genocide.

The title text applies quotative like to the {{w|Book of Genesis}} (specifically, {{w|Genesis 1:3}}: "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light"), the first book of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) and the Christian Old Testament. When researching the history of language {{w|Etymology|etymologists}} take great effort to find the earliest usage of a word or phrase, which may be used to show a historical precedence.

==Transcript==
:[Megan referring to a published article she is holding.]
:Megan: I found this article on the linguistics of the "Quotative Like".
:Cueball: Like, when you're like, "She was like"?
:Megan: Yea.
:Megan: It features a quote from a linguist, Patricia Cukor-Avila: "Eventually all the people who hate this kind of thing are going to be dead, and the ones who use it are going to be in control."
:Cueball: Wow. Turns out linguists are pretty hardcore.
:Megan: I ''think'' she means dead from old age.
:Cueball: I'm gonna start using "like" more, just in case.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]