And a lot of older generations are saying, 'Oh, the kids are saying this and we don't like it,' but it's different than a regular quotative. I think the most common one is the quotative like, and that one's a little bit older than the rest. SERENITY: Well, it has a few different uses. NEIL SERVEN, HOST: So is a word that I use a lot.ĪMMON: Sure initial so is a big one lately. It's just a filler word and it doesn't mean anything,' but it does have a lot of meaning.ĪMMON: Filler words tend to carry some sort of meaning, right? I mean, they're performing a function at least, right?ĮMILY: What are some other examples of filler words, just for people who aren't familiar with that term? SERENITY CARR, GUEST: So there are some modern uses that are objected to in use, and they actually have quite a lot of function, but people like to say, 'Oh, this is a useless word, and you need to stop saying it. Serenity, you've done considerable work and research into like. And the most notable examples for this, certainly of late, is the humble little word like. One of the reasons that these are so entertaining is that they tend to engender considerable passion on the part of people who care about language. Tell us more about like.'ĪMMON: We love to talk about people's linguistic peeves. In this segment, we are joined by Merriam-Webster editor Serenity Carr.

Love it or hate it, the word like performs some interesting feats in the language. There are, like, words that annoy people and then there are words that, like, really annoy people.

On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Neil Serven, Ammon Shea, Peter Sokolowski, and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point. I'm Emily Brewster and Word Matters is a new podcast from Merriam-Webster, produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. We have to get through the hard part, which is, there are three means, three etymological words that are spelled M-E-A-N, that have nothing to do with each other.ĮMILY BREWSTER, HOST: Coming up on Word Matters, the annoying like and what we mean when we say mean.

PETER SOKOLOWSKI, HOST: Mean is complicated. Later we'll tackle the story of 'mean', which was a perfectly nice word for centuries before it developed a bit of an attitude.ĪMMON SHEA, HOST: There's a wide range of ostensible problems with language, which only seem to come up when women do them, even though they're obviously every bit as common among male speakers. 'Like' is a wildly versatile, fascinating word and we're here with guest editor Serenity Carr to give it its due.

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