Is, Like, Saying “Like” Cool?

The fundamentals of public speaking and Expos 40 dictate that we should eliminate filler phrases from our speeches. Rather than filling silences with “like”s and “um”s, we should simply pause, collect our thoughts, and resume in an Obamaesque manner. It’s emphatic, our teachers tell us. After making an important point, the silence carries the gravity of our words — whatever that means. But somehow, we always find ourselves saying, “like.”