This happened, like, five minutes ago.

就，大概在五分鐘之前發生了。

We've been friends for, like, like, 11 years.

就，你知道，我們當朋友已經 11 年了。

And then I was like, "Hello?"

然後我就說：「哈囉？」

And I was like, "Please, can I have my ticket?"

然後就說：「請問我可以取票嗎？」

I'm always weird about, like, well, like, they wanted to watch it together, and I was like, well, I don't wanna sit there with them.

我就覺得很奇怪啊，就是，他們想要一起看，但是我就，我不想跟他們坐在一起嘛！

Like it or hate it, you can actually hear the word "like" everywhere, from celebrities.

不論你接受與否，你其實到處都可以從名人口中聽到 like 這個字。

But, like, if they ask about your lips, like, own up to it.

反正就，如果有人問關於你嘴唇的事，你就承認啊！

To movies.

到電影裡都有出現。

But people came that, like, did not RSVP.

但是來參加的人就根本沒有事先回覆有沒有要來啊。

So I was, like, totally bugging.

我就覺得超煩的。

And, yes, our own mouths.

對，還有出自我們自己的嘴巴。

I say “like” all the time.

我一天到晚說 like。

And most of the time...

而大部分時間...

No, I do not notice that I'm saying “like”.

沒有，我並沒有注意到我一直說 like。

Unless it's, like...oh, now I do!

除非就是... 喔，我現在說了！

So, where exactly did this annoying trend begin?

所以在句子裡加 like 這個有點惱人的風潮究竟是何時開始的呢？

And more importantly, why?

還有更重要的是，為什麼會開始？

Believe it or not, the way we use like can be traced back as far as the late 19th century.

信不信由你，我們使用 like 這個字的歷史最早可以追溯回 19 世紀末。

Right here on the pages from the 1886 Scottish novel “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson.

在這一頁，出自於 1886 年一本出自 Robert Louis Stevenson 之手， 名為《Kidnapped》的蘇格蘭小說之中

But it wasn't until the 1950s that a certain group brought the word to spotlight: The Beat Generation.

但直到 1950 年代，一群特定的人，又名為「垮掉的一代」，將這個字帶到焦點之下。

The young, rebellious Beat Generation soon picked up the interjection as a sign of cool, and it was used so frequently that it turned into a trope for any beatnik characters in pop culture.

這群年輕又叛逆的垮掉一代開始使用這個斷句字，並視使用這個字為很前衛酷炫的代表，而這個字被瘋狂的使用之後轉變為垮掉一代成員的流行文化理念。

Like, how should I know, Jazz?

就，我怎麼會知道呢，Jazz？

Like, he never tells me nothing.

啊他就什麼都沒跟我說啊！

What's that on your chin?

你下巴上那個是什麼啊？

Can't you tell, man?

大哥，你看不出來嗎？

It's, like, a beard.

啊他就是鬍子啊！

Like, next time, signal!

下次就給個信號嘛！

Sorry!

抱歉！

The Beats played an important role in introducing the new use of like to a larger audience, especially the younger generations.

垮掉一代在將這個字的新用法變得廣為人知這件事上扮演了很重要的角色，尤其是對年輕的那一代。

And 20 years later, when the word rose to prominence once again, it wasn't from the rebellious Beat writers in bars, but from the young girls in the malls of San Fernando Valley.

20 年之後，當這個再度成為流行，並不是因為叛逆的垮掉一代在酒吧出沒的作者興起，而是因為一群常出現在聖費爾南多谷百貨公司的年輕女孩。

And they had a name for themselves.

她們還有為自己取名字。

They're high school girls with a lingo, style of dress, and philosophy all their own.

她們是一群有自己獨特語言模式、穿衣風格還有生活哲學的高中女孩。

They are: Valley Girl!

她們是：山谷女孩。

The Valley Girl was a socioeconomic stereotype referring to the young, upper-class white girls living in the San Fernando Valley.

山谷女孩是一個社會經濟下的刻板印象，指一群年輕，生活在上層社會，居住在聖費爾南多谷的白人女孩。

These girls were known for spending days at the mall and dressing head to toe in pink, but what stood out the most was the way they spoke.

這些女孩以在百貨公司消磨時間還有從頭到腳打扮成粉紅色出名，但最顯著的特徵仍是她們的說話方式。

And think of the muscles straining and the jaw being, like, pulled out.

試著讓這裡的肌肉很緊繃然後下巴像這樣，就，這樣拉出來。

Make it seem as if it's rolling off your tongue.

讓整個發音感覺要把舌頭翻出來一樣。

Let's try: Barf out, I am sure!

然後試試：給我停止，我確定！

It even had its own name: Valley speak.

她們講話的方式甚至有自己的名字，稱為「山谷語 (Valley speak) 」。

It was what linguists call a sociolect, a set of dialect, slang, and words used by a specific class of people.

這樣的語言語言學家稱之為「社會方言」，是一系列被某個特定族群使用的方言、俚語還有單字。

It includes words and phrases like tubular, totally, grody, gag me with a spoon, some of which are still used today.

這包括了單字還有片語例如 tubular，totally，grody (都是如 like 的無意義字眼)，gag me with a spoon (噁爆了)，有些用法現在都還有在使用。

And, of course, the word like.

還有當然，like 這個字。

But it was still just a regional phenomenon, until a single record changed all of that.

但這現在還是一個區域性的風潮，直到一首歌改變了這樣的局勢。

♪Valley girl♪

♪山谷女孩♪

♪She's a Valley girl♪

♪她是山谷女孩♪

In 1982, musician Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Zappa released their single "Valley Girl," a novelty song written to mock and satirize the Valley Girl culture.

一1982 年，音樂家 Frank Zappa 還有他的女兒 Moon Zappa 釋出了一首單曲名為「山谷女孩」，一首嘲笑和諷刺山谷女孩文化的新穎歌曲。

To their surprise, the song was a massive hit, peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard chart, and was even nominated for a Grammy.

但讓他們驚訝的是，這首歌大為走紅，表現最好時有達到告示牌排行榜的第 32 名，甚至被提名葛萊美獎。

The song that was meant to be a parody had ironically turned Valley Girls and Valley speak into a national phenomenon.

這首歌本來應該是一個很滑稽的模仿作品，但卻諷刺地將山谷女孩還有她們山谷語變成了全國風靡的熱潮。

I've been doing this for almost 20 years, and this is the most successful record that has ever occurred, and the only reason that it's successful is because it's an accident.

我做這樣的事情已經超過 20 年了，而這是表現最好的一次，這個成功完全是一個意外。

The Valley girls had turned from a stereotype that symbolized Southern California's shallow materialism into a cool, idolized icon.

山谷女孩從代表南加州膚淺物質主義的刻板印象轉變成很酷、偶像的代表。

And the Californian entertainment industry only fueled its spread, this time in movies and TV shows.

還有加州的娛樂產業加速了這個風潮的傳播，這次是透過電影還有電視劇。

A year after the song's release, films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Valley Girl were made to quickly take advantage of the trend, which then led to other movies and shows, like Clueless, Mean Girls, and Beverly Hills, 90210, all targeting a younger demographic.

在這首歌發行一年之後，為了搭上這股熱潮，電影如《開放的美國學府》還有《青春熱舞》很快地被拍攝了出來，而隨後也有一系列的電影還有電視劇如《獨領風騷》，《辣妹過招》還有《飛越比佛利》針對年輕族群而陸續推出。

Although pop culture has contributed to the word's widespread popularity, linguists have come to believe that it might also be because of how we use the word.

雖然流行文化幫助了這個字的廣泛流行，語言學家表示我們如何使用這個詞也是造成流行很大的原因。

Yeah, everyone says like.

對啊，大家都說 like。

It's just the way people, like, talk.

啊就，這就大家講話的方式啊！

The word originally began with just two definitions, the verb from the Old English "lician" meaning, to feel attracted towards, and the adjective from the Old English "lich," meaning similar to.

這個字原本只有兩種定義，一個是來自古英文的動詞 lician，意思是「被...吸引」，而另一個用法來自古英文形容詞 lich，意思是「類似於」。

But over time, it's not developed one, but four more definitions, each serving an entirely different purpose.

但隨著時間的推移，這個字發展出了四種完全不同的用法。

Like the quotative, used to quote our own or someone else's words.

例如引用詞，用來引用自己或別人的話語。

She was just like, "Hey, do you have PayPal?"

她就說：「嘿你有 PayPal 嗎？」

And I was like, "I don't have PayPal, I have Venmo."

然後我就說：「我沒有 PayPal，但我有 Venmo。」

A filler mainly used for pause and flow.

填充字通常用來停頓或強調語氣。

It was really just amazing.

這個真的很棒。

Like, I kept thinking about it afterwards.

你知道，事後我一直不斷回想。

An adverb, also known as a hedge, that's used for approximation.

一個副詞，通常是使你語氣強度降低的單字，用來表達一個大約的概念。

This happened, like, five minutes ago.

這大概在，就，五分鐘之前。

And what's known as a discourse particle, to emphasize a point.

還有一個為語意助詞，用來強調語氣。

She has this bananas phobia of blood.

她有這種，香蕉恐懼症的血統。

Like, it's... she's completely, like, debilitated.

所以就... 她超級虛弱。

And that's not all.

這還不是全部。

Recent studies have suggested that the word might also have a social function, acting as a cue to seem informal and friendly, another reason why it's so prevalent among young girls.

最近的研究指出，這個詞可能還與社交有關，是非正式與友好的指標，這也是另一個年輕女孩之間會很流行使用這個字的原因。

Over the years, the way we use like has been used as a prime example of how younger generations are destroying the English language.

經過這些年，我們使用 like 的方式已經是年輕一代如何摧毀英語的主要例子。

The internet is full of advice on how to stop saying the word, and schools have gone as far as to ban their students from saying it.

網路上充斥著要如何停止使用這個詞的建議，還有學校甚至禁止學生使用這個字。

But chances are, they won't work.

但事實上，這樣並沒有效。

If history has proven one thing, language evolves and spreads, no matter what we want.

如果歷史證明了一件事情，那就是語言會進化及傳播，且不會隨我們的心意進行。

So as long as we continue to speak, how we say like is, like, not going anywhere.

所以只要我們還有繼續在講話，我們使用 like 的方式就不會消失。

Hahaha, I did think of that, 'cause I was like, I think I'm saying like a little bit too often.

我的確有想到這件事，因為就，我覺得我的確有點太常講這個字了。

But, no, I was being framed!

但，沒有，我是被陷害的！