Like, What's Like, The Point?

My father used to always tease about our use of the word "like."

"Was it 'like, so fun,' or was it 'so fun?'" He claimed that if he charged us a nickel for every time we used the word "like," he'd be a rich man.

And it's probably true.

My roommates and I recently decided we needed to eradicate the dreadfully bothersome and encumbering word from our lexicons. Easier said than done, let me tell you. Do you realize how much I use the word "like?" A whole damn lot.

We would sit in the living room chatting, like we did every night, and consciously try to avoid the word. We literally had to speak as if we were being played in slow motion, pausing every time we started with "li--." It happened a lot more than I thought it would.

And then, I really started noticing other people's use of "like." There are always those girls in class--"I was just going to say, that like, if you really look at like, the third chapter, you can like, really notice the author's like, way of like, using imagery, and like. . ." It looks silly in writing, but this is really how girls talk. Even guys too. I was walking to class the other day listening to the two boys talking behind me, and couldn't believe my ears. When you really listen to it, it sounds like a joke. "Dude, I was like, 'Kid, are you for real?' And he was like, like, 'Yeah dude, no shit.' Like, this kid is like, the man, like--can you like, believe that?"

I feel embarrassed for them.

And yet, when you really listen, you notice who's using it and who isn't. My father certainly didn't. My mother never did, either. And most definitely, professors will never be caught dead using the word "like"--in the classroom, in office hours, anywhere. Nowhere, in a whole hour and fifteen minute class, will a professor let the word "like" slip in. The word is just not there.

So I don't get this. Why is our generation guilty of this linguistic phenomenon while others older than us are not? Who was the first fool to throw in the word "like" to their sentence? When did this begin? Even my 9-year-old sister uses it every other word.

I feel unfortunate that for some reason I've felt the need to use it. No longer will I be a victim of this travesty!

Comments/answers encouraged.