Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 10:40:18 -0500

From: Mai Kuha mkuha[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INDIANA.EDU

Subject: Imperative "BE+like"



Earlier this week I heard "BE+like" in the imperative for the first time,

and thought it was so neat that I just have to tell someone, so here you

go:



I was at a discount store (here in Bloomington, Indiana) and one of the

other shoppers was not finding an item she was looking for. Her companion,

a male in his teens, suggested: "The next time you see someone wearing it,

be like: 'where did you get that?'"



Maybe this is old news and I just haven't been paying attention. But, if

this is new, I would think the occurrence of the expression in the

imperative is a sign that it is being used in a greater variety of

contexts, so maybe its use is increasing. Also, "BE+like" in this context

must mean "say" rather than "think/feel", because it doesn't make much

sense to tell someone to have a particular cognitive state.



-Mai

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Mai Kuha

mkuha[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]indiana.edu

http://php.indiana.edu/~mkuha/home.html

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