Weird, I've never really heard it except in the context of someone trying to sanitise their language, such as when kids are around.
Then again, there are some weird regionalisms out there. I once met a pair of sandgropers that said "type of" where other people would say "sort of". They were siblings, so it may have even been family-specific. Haven't heard it elsewhere.
A sand groper is a small insect:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandgroper_%28insect%29
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A "sand groper" is also slang for a Western Australian. As a "sand groper", I have never heard anyone use "type of" instead of "sort of" so I'm going to guess it was family specific.
Then again, there are some weird regionalisms out there. I once met a pair of sandgropers that said "type of" where other people would say "sort of". They were siblings, so it may have even been family-specific. Haven't heard it elsewhere.