Saved by Alex Burns
Why do we say “like,” like, all the time?
A phrase that’s been showing up recently is, “no pressure.” It usually comes in a pitch letter of some sort, written by someone who isn’t in a position to exert any pressure.
So why say it?
It’s a bit like, “while supplies last.” And “to be honest…” which is perhaps the most self-negating of the three.
It’s throat-clearing, a word salad designed to... See more
So why say it?
It’s a bit like, “while supplies last.” And “to be honest…” which is perhaps the most self-negating of the three.
It’s throat-clearing, a word salad designed to... See more
As a discourse marker to indicate a looseness of meaning, as in “She’s, like, my oldest friend” (meaning it may not exactly be true, but close), or to add emphasis, “it’s like 100 miles from here!”
Psychology Today • Like, What? The Power and History of a Popular Phrase
Language can contain an entire world, revealing its speakers’ history, values, or pathologies. It can also be obfuscating, diversionary, slippery. Chattiness, with its personality-driven appeals to familiarity, can conceal or elide false promises, banality, emptiness, controversy, and the context of its own existence
Anna Wiener • The Age of Chat
Words shape our ideas, how we see the world, and how we relate to one another. As design teacher and researcher Anne Galloway says:
Language makes it possible for us to navigate places and relationships; to express needs and requirements;... See more
“Language doesn’t just make things—it assembles, cobbles together, entire worlds and all the relations within.”
Language makes it possible for us to navigate places and relationships; to express needs and requirements;... See more
Nicole Fenton • Words as Material
We’re approaching a splitting point, where AI’s impacts on how we speak and write move between the poles of standardization, like templating professional emails or formal presentations, and authentic expression in personal and emotional spaces. Between those poles, there are three core tensions at play. Early backlash signals, like academics... See more