On: Hitchens examines the, like, unstoppable onslaught of "like."

Grampa wants you to, like, get off his lawn.

Also:

> The restoration of the word 'as,' which isn’t that hard a word to master, along with 'such as,' would also be a help in varying the national lingo.

Instantly reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

> Everywhere, like, such as.

The thing is: I submitted a bunch of interesting (to me) links this morning and this is the one to get front-page attention. I don't understand the difference. Indeed, this seemed to me to be the most superficial among them. But with my wife and I recently wondering how "like" entered our own speech patterns, it interested me.

I can't comment on the collective voting pattern on HN, but my objection to Hitchens' piece is that he buries what might have been an interesting etymology of "like" under a mountain of prescriptive humbug.

Fair enough. But that is Hitchens. You didn't have to click the link to know that's his MO.

Ah, Hitchens. The right wing can have him. :)