Monday, March 23, 2009

I mean, you know?

In the 70s and 80s, we had certain language quirks (my term) that I'm sure drove older people crazy, among them "cool" and "you know". But I don't think anything we said rivals some of today's language quirks that drive me crazy. Namely the habit of saying "I mean" and "no/yes". And begin a sentence with them, before anything else has been said, and it drives me crazy and up a wall. Example: "Linda, how do you feel about today's language quirks?"; "Well, I mean, you know, no/yes, it drives me crazy". No, I don't know what you mean, because you haven't said anything yet! And what does no/yes mean - no it doesn't drive you crazy, or yes it does drive you crazy, or you're undecided?

The reason I mention this is, because, you know, I mean, no/yes, I just saw a person on tv say all those things in the very first sentence she spoke. Just my opinion, but it's not, you know, like, cool.

3 comments:

Wendy said...

I say 'you know' all the time (hopefully after I've actually said something), but no/yes... I've never heard it. Weird.

Wander to the Wayside said...

I say "you know" all the time, too. It's the "I mean, you know" a the beginning of a sentence that drives me nuts. And I can't believe you've never heard the no/yes or yes/no thing, because I hear it all the time, most notably on tv when someone is asked a question. It really makes no sense whatsoever. You watch, now that I've brought it to your attention, you'll notice it and you'll see for yourself how stupid it sounds.

Malinda said...

I also say "you know" ALL the time too, but also have never heard no/yes from anyone, you know?!