Diss "Like"

Autor/in	Gup, Ted
Titel	Diss "Like"
Quelle	In: Chronicle of Higher Education, (2012) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1931-1362
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Figurative Language; Critical Thinking; Ambiguity (Semantics); Sociolinguistics; Higher Education; Language Usage; Standard Spoken Usage; Language Styles + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Kritisches Denken; Soziolinguistik; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Sprachgebrauch; Gesprochene Sprache; Umgangssprache; Sprachstil
Abstract	Depending on how one does the math, there are between a quarter-million and a million words in the English language. Of all these words, the author holds in contempt only one. That word is "like"--not the tepid expression of mild appreciation but the parasitic form that now bleeds the mother tongue, marks the user as a dunce, and, were it truly understood, scandalizes schools. No word has less meaning or says as much about what has become of education. It is easy--and fashionable--to dismiss it as a personal pet peeve (a pedagogical hypersensitivity), a verbal tic (like Tourette's, a disability that, though embarrassing, calls for accommodation, not correction), or a sophomoric affliction akin to acne--soon to be outgrown and impolite to point out. But having spent the last 30 years in the company of the possessed, the author has come to view "like" as something more pernicious, a kind of carrier, like the flea that brings with it the plague. It is the byproduct of a culture that is loath to set standards, pathologically averse to confrontation, and prostrate in the face of precipitously declining verbal and writing skills. In this article, the author disses the word "like." He contends that "like" is merely an adhesive that, ironically, holds together unlike elements. It represents the antithesis of forethought, is inimical to critical thinking, a counterfeit expression, a poseur emboldened by years of self-indulgence and pedagogical neglect. It is a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card, relieving the speaker of accountability. It tells students that the world is so intrigued by what they have to say that it is willing to clean up after them, to sift through the verbal refuse for the nuggets concealed within. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Chronicle of Higher Education. 1255 23rd Street NW Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 800-728-2803; Tel: 202-466-1000; Fax: 202-452-1033; e-mail: circulation@chronicle.com; Web site: http://chronicle.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10