David McCullough Urges BC Graduates To Speak Properly: Cut The "Like!"

NEWTON, Mass. — Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough has a suggestion for what young people can do for their country.

"Please, please do what you can to cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation," McCullough implored Boston College's class of 2008 at commencement ceremonies Monday.

He said he's particularly troubled by the "relentless, wearisome use of words" such as like, awesome and actually.

"Just imagine if in his inaugural address John F. Kennedy had said, 'Ask not what your country can, you know, do for you, but what you can, like, do for your country actually," he said.

Graduates apparently thought his speech was, like, awesome. They gave him a standing ovation.

Comments

[MizJ]

How about inserting "ask" for "axe"? Good start there.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

That's dialect, not an actual mistake. Also, I loved that headline on the Onion a few years ago "Ask murderer terrorized african-american community".

[racetoinfinity]

The correct usage of "lie" and "lay" as in "I'm going to lie down" and "Please lay the book on the table" had been dead for decades. It's all "lay" now. They might as well retire the meaning of "recline" from the definition of "lie" in the dictionairies now, and only include "tell a falsehood".

[raw915]

No. That version of lie means republican.

[ToddinHB]

I've become persona non grata amongst my friends for criticizing their use of the word "like." It drives me crazy and has begun to infect my speech, as well. I'm glad that someone finally called it out. I was beginning to feel like the Will Ferrell character in "Zoolander" - "Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

[raw915]

Like, man, I work in a company where half of the employees are legal immigrants who can't articulate a single grammatically correct sentence. Why would I agonize over a few misused likes, which, by the way, none of these intelligent folks would ever misuse?

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Imagine the cost savings over the past seven years had Bush learned to speak properly.

Translators would not have been necessary for meetings with The Queen and the Commonwealth Prime Ministers.

[kellygrrrl]

Imagine the cost of savings if Pepaw Bush had been sterile

[zull2]

Ha! I bet his elders said the same things to him, too, when he was a young beatnik. Referring to a person as "Hey, man" probably was frowned upon by his elders back in the 1950's.

It is true, though, the term "like" is certainly, grossly, overused. It is not a word that you should say while you are still attempting to form a cogent sentence, however it does sound slightly more intelligent than "uh...". Even though you end up sounding like Bill Shatner, it's always better to pause when you're trying to remember what you were going to say. And if someone cuts in, then they're rude and you can make a deal of it.

[GeoLee]

Have you ever paid attention to Brits speaking? Rarely do you even hear an "uh" let alone so many of the "filler" words that sprinkle (or should I say rain) throughout American speech? It is fun to listen to PBS BBC news shows and to the British Parliament arguments to hear how the experts on the English language speak in their daily lives. I remember one high school teacher who "uh'd" so often we counted the number of times to overcome our boredoom with his lectures.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

As if!

[raker]

Bravo! Let's start a list. After like and actually let's put amazing and I mean. "I mean, like, the graduation speech was amazing!" becomes "It was a good graduation speech. I enjoyed it." I, like, wish and stuff.

[ptillen]

Three A's that I've banished from my vocabulary:
1. Amazing
2. Awesome
3. Absolutely

[raw915]

The three A** holes I've banished from my vocabulary:
1. Shrub
2. Turdblossom
3. The president++

++Cheney's formal nickname. The correct word for Cheney's nickname is considered profanity more often than as someone's name, so it is bleeped out when used in correct context.

[BadCompany]

Hope.
Change.

[VolvoBirkenstock]

"Awesome speech, Holiness."

Bush to the Pope.

[justfine]

George Bush said to the Pope after his (the Pope's) speech on the White House Lawn, "Awesome speech!"

No, I am not joking. The video was run everywhere that night and later.

This is what America is to the rest of the world.

[carlosb00]

The: You know what i mean! and the: what not's! are also terrible. it bothers me like a spine each time someone says those phraces to me.

[KOisGod]

David McCullough for president.

Bill Cosby for VP

Now that - would be like, totally awesome!

[grailknight]

It's about time! OMG! It's like over twenty years since "like" has like become ubiquitous. I remember a student presenting her project in college and not being able to pay to much attention to its substance because the young lady kept saying "like" at least once a sentence. It was like-- you know--
I also have a qualm with some people's cadances by which declarative sentences take on the quality of the interrogative?

[swift goat pet for truth]

It would help to have a President of the US who would speak like an educated person.

But, like, the Corporate Media never would criticize Bush for anything.

[gditty]

Like.....he's absolutely right!!

[terrierist]

Wow! He just put his finger on the number one problem facing the world today: improper grammar.

[rmetz74]

I don't know... Imagine how much different the last 8 years could have been if Bush knew how to speak English.

[grailknight]

Perhaps if spoke with better grammer, we won't be perceived as a nation of semi-literate rednecks and gangstas.

[WhatWouldJesusBomb]

You should, um, like... try to avoid using the passive voice.

[BeNice]

I also get this wrong from time to time. And it has been pointed out to me in a reply to a post: it’s “grammar” not “grammer.”

[raw915]

Nice. We need a dictionary on how people speak, not on how a few dicks think we should speak.

[CARTERJ]

Exactly. The decline of the language began when "I'm like" replaced "I said". The past tense was dropped entirely.

The Grand Canyon, the genius of Mozart, the universe are awesome. The latest sandwich from Subway or McDonald's is not 'awesome'.

[amanda85]

"The latest sandwich from Subway or McDonald's is not 'awesome'."

Right. "Loathsome" describes either one much more appropriately... ;)