Like, REALLY???

“Oh my gosh! I love, love, love it! It’s awesome!!”
Okay. I get it. You like it. A lot. Why the overkill?

I’ve been asked by many people whether I’ve experienced a lot of cultural shock being that I come from South Africa. There are many similarities and differences but nothing comes to mind as quickly as the overkill, magnification, embellishment, and exaggeration of simple statements! “Girlfriend, do you really like that top that much???”

I get it, some people (like you) love, luv, lurv, to be expressive. These people have a tendency to want to be number one in everything they do by one-upping (or should I say three-upping?) the rest of the world. But have you noticed how you’ve “one-upped” yourself into a corner? A corner lacking…wait for it…breathe…let’s overuse the ellipses…still waiting?…good…adjectives!
Wait! What?! That didn’t even make sense. Ugh (I just need to be overtly flambouyant now)! Don’t you just hate it when people do that? Just tell me what on God’s green earth you want to say. A corner lacking adjectives? YES!

“I detest that kid. Absolutely loath him. He makes my skin crawl.”

“We’ve like become so accustomed to like being soooo like over the top that we like become like impervious (oops, that’s too big a word!), unaffected!…by hearing like someone express their feelings about like someone/thing.”
 Like really?! As far as I know, “like” is a simile. Pardon me if I’m incorrect.
“So what I’m saying is that we have almost become so accustomed to almost being soooo almost over the top that we almost become almost imp…(nope!)…unaffected by hearing almost someone express their feelings about almost someone/thing.” Do you blame me for always looking confused when we’re chatting? What’s the point of trying to be number one when every third word you utter is almost “almost?” Almost doesn’t count.

I have a proposition: Let’s minimise everything. Love what you really love. Don’t be afraid to say that you simply “like” something. Nothing wrong with that. Recipients of these words: Do not be offended. Liking something is a good thing. Look at Facebook! But now it’s my turn to confuse you: Stop “liking” everything. I. Am. Sure. We. Can. Think. Of. What. We. Need. To. Say. Before. We. Say. It. I mean, the way we speak is like, really, seriously, unbelievably, incredibly, unrealistically…I don’t even have the words to describe it!

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