Orleans Weekly Journal
Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 

The lost art of conversation

Like, well, umm you know, so this week we take a step away, from you know, the usual Orléans focus of this column and instead, like, look at how poor our everyday conversation, has you know, become. Yeah, like’s it’s really bad man, eh?  

The inspiration for this column comes not from the chatter of teenagers on the street, rather it stems from a recent morning trip on my 35 express bus into the downtown core with two middle-aged (my age) workers talking rather loudly, like, for all the other passengers to, you know, hear. While the volume was a touch grating on the ears, it was the total slang and lack of sentence structure, ah, you know that like, hmm wasn’t really cool-like.

Will the language of Chaucer and Shakespeare suffer the same fate as Latin?

At our dinner table we now have the liberty to politely correct each other when this lazy, valley girl, Disney Channel-inspired slime of useless adjectives and conjunctives infects our everyday conversation.

“So how was your field trip today little man?”

“Oh dad, it was neat, like the NAC place is really huge, you know.”

Excuse me son — “I’m sure it was fantastic and yes, the NAC is an impressive venue. And in fact, this is one of the few times that I do know.”

You might think that, you know, I am sweating the small stuff on this issue, use of language and like, stuff like that. However, in a world where communication skills are more important than ever, whether at home, in the work place or travelling abroad, this is like, a really, really, ah, yeah, top shelf issue, kinda big thing, you know? And it shouldn’t be sloughed off with a yeah, whatever, not so much response.

If you are as concerned as I am, here’s what you can do. In a conversation with a friend or colleague that is peppered with the phrase “you know” every six seconds, politely stop the discussion and say, sorry, actually I don’t know, that’s why I asked you a question. It will make other people aware of this annoying quirk in their speaking style.

Another technique to employ is humour when a colleague, friend or partner is like, using ‘like’ before every third word in a like, you know, sentence.

“Hey Jim, I would really like it and like you more if you like, stopped using the word like, like every three like seconds.” And say it with a smile! Then quickly let your bud know that you would also appreciate it if he politely pointed out when you sound like a blathering teen actor from the set of Suite Life, Zoey 101 or Hannah Montana as well.

So like, you know, let’s all give it a try, eh? It won’t hurt too much and, well, you know, we might even like, improve the quality of our conversations dude. And if you disagree, well, you know, like, it bothers me, not so much!

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Comments can be sent to Walter Robinson at orleansouttakes@transcontinental.ca.