Capítulo 146: Omg, Like

This is the language episode: we unpack the linguistic use of the word "like", valley girls and why we should stop telling women what to do.   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Look at Our Radio is a radio phonic novela, which
is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.
I'm theos f M and I am malays. Local Radio
is your prete must favorite podcast hosted by us Mala
and Theosa where Too I friends turned podcast partners, breaking

(00:22):
down pop culture, feminism, sexual wellness, and offering fresh takes
on strending topics through nuanced interviews with up and coming
Latin X creatives known as Las Local, Las Mammy Submit
and Bullshits next Door and Lasses. We've been podcasting independently

(00:42):
since and we're bringing our radiophonic novela to the Miquel
Gouda Network to continue sharing stories from the LATINOX community.
Welcome to Local Radio Season seven, Take us to your network.
Oh my god, like welcome back to another coupit the
law of like look at a radio, Look at what

(01:05):
a radio is like a radiophonic novella, which is like
a really extra way of saying, like a podcast cast
like this is like the language episode. A lot of
people have like commented on like our use of the
word like when we talk so okay, y'all in all seriousness,

(01:28):
we like got a comment from someone that not a listener,
not a follower, but just engaged with a real of
ours sound bite and said, I'm sorry, I can't get
past the use of like every two words. And I responded, sorry,
I can't help it, to which she said and then

(01:54):
she said, oh, of course you can. You just don't
want to because it becomes socially acceptable. Same thing with
the word irregardless now being an acceptable to some word
because people kept using it. Speech professors teach how to
avoid fillers. I know, because I was terrified of public
speaking and used to um and uh my way through presentations.

(02:17):
I was taught to just stay silent until I found
my words. She's telling me to shut the funk up. Basically,
she said, gita, bitch. Yes, that is literally what she
said to me, y'all, And I just said, okay, because
you're not a listener, you're not a follower, and okay,

(02:37):
she does not follow. She does not listen, but at
least her reels are reaching new audience. Thank god, thank god.
And yeah, that that little exchange inspired this episode because
in all seriousness, right, there is a use of the
word like for people, specifically in Los Angeles. All races

(03:00):
is all nationalities, ethnicities. We use the word like like
so many ways. We like to say like, I will
say that same episode, even my mother, my mother was
my mother was was like, I'm sick, I'm in bad,
I can't move, So I guess I'll listen to your podcast.

(03:23):
Does not listen because she's horrified by the idea of
me saying things. So she finally she goes, So I listened.
I finally listened, and you girls have got to stop
saying like so much. Yeah, you know, I think that
that clip that you used, I love I love the clip.

(03:46):
I like the clip. Afterwards, after I read that comment,
I said to myself, what is this been talking about?
So I listened, and yes, there was a lot of
use of the word like on my end, and I right, No,
I didn't, but it was a lot where I thought, Okay, yeah,
if you're listening to this for the first time in

(04:09):
all of the episode, it probably wasn't terrible in this
little clip. Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'll admit it. It's
it is pretty bad, okay, but I'm I'm okay with
it because I know that I can speak well. However,
my bone to pick is with you. Mala because you
made the clip, so thanks a lot. I chose the edit.

(04:32):
She did choose the edit. But no, yes, here's the thing.
I don't even hear the like that's hilarious. I don't
even hear the hilarious to me because it is just
so embedded in our vocabulary that we don't even notice
when we're using it, even notice it. Like like I'm listening,
I'm listening to the episode and I get to that

(04:53):
portion and I'm all, this is a great this is
a great little tidbit that she share here. It was
that really gives the listener context as to the conversation
we're having in the episode. Let me cut and pose. So, girl,
I listened to you for what you're saying. I'm listening

(05:15):
to you for your meaning and your deeper words. Mama
is not listening for linguistic aspects. Okay, professor, No, but really, um,
I think that there's something too. We'll get into the
actual word like in a little bit, but I think
that there's something too for us. You know, we're not scripted.
We have an outline, we have notes, but line, but

(05:38):
this episode is not a line by line. We're not
reading a script, you know, And so this is improv
a lot a lot of it, not all of it.
Like we have a we have a really solid structure.
We do our research, y'all. But what you hear is
a lot of just MoMA and I, you know, vibing
and reacting to each other's energy and our words. We're
having a conversation, like you know. And so I think

(06:02):
that when you go off script, at least for me,
right when I'm we go off the rails a little
bit as we do. Um, I'm gathering my thoughts and yeah,
maybe that that is me saying like that is me
saying like a bunch of times. And I think that
that's okay because I'm processing out loud with y'all. Am
I am I giving your presentation at a university. No,

(06:25):
I'm talking to y'all my listeners. And what I did
I did appreciate one of our O G listeners, kim
She commented l A girlies and their inability to speak
without using like as a comfort mechanism. Appreciate the representation
honestly and shoutout Kitty that Kimmy, She's been walking with

(06:46):
us for years and years and years, and so I
know that she saw that comment and was like, let
me go defend my girls right now, and she did.
And it's true because I think there's a lot of
us that use like and not just not just girls
like Mama, you're referencing a TikTok that you saw of this,
like Latino using the word like incessant, incessantly. Here's my

(07:11):
deal because people associate the way that we talked. We've
been told like some fucking some fucking Chicano commented. Of
course at its some fucking Chicano commented on our Instagram
A while ago, we were on an Instagram live. We
were on an Instagram live during the pandemic. We had
our weekly like Oya Looka's live segment, and this man

(07:34):
commented he thought, I know this man was old. He
thought that he was responding. I guess someone sent him
the live so that he could watch it because they
thought that he would enjoy it. Well surprised he didn't,
because he responded, thinking he was responding privately. He responded
in the live comments section saying, why do I want

(07:58):
to see this? These are just fake Chicanas that sounds
like white girls. Yeah, and let me just tell you.
Let me just tell you. After mama's cackle. Let me,
let me just tell you that the way that men

(08:20):
and in this case as women, right, I just want
to pick apart the way women speak, whether it be pitch,
whether it be the use of word like, and this
is not just us, Like there are women podcasters that
get negative comments on Apple podcasts simply for their tone,
simply for the way they speak, you know, And this

(08:43):
this just incessant standard, this impossible standard that women are
held too for the way we speak. Like literally, this
girl told me to shut up. It's true, and so
be quiet until you have something better to say. I'm
sick of it. I'm so sick of it. Go don't
listen to the podcast. Then, Although although the clip was annoying,

(09:06):
I will say the clip wasn't I but I stand
stand by that clip. But but but it doesn't actually
bother me. I know that we're talking about it. But
isn't this comment in particular that that dude, Yes, that
was annoying, But this comment pure doesn't actually bother me
because I know that we have lots of wonderful episodes,

(09:27):
we have lots of great intelligent things to say. This
one clip is fine, girl, But speaking of speaking about
this man, you know, the fake Chicanas. It's just hilarious, too,
just too much. I need to I need to like
course correct for people here. This is what people need

(09:47):
to understand. People are always like, oh, you sound like
a white girl. You talk like a white girl. We
talk like valley girls. Okay. There are white women across
this country who do not speak this way. This is
not specific to white women. We talk like girls who
were raised in the San Gabriel Valley. Okay. If you

(10:07):
watch Clueless, they were in the San Fernando Valley. Valley girls, okay,
and a lot of girls in the valley are Asian
are latinas are black. Valley girls talk like this and
come in many shapes and sizes and shades. But a

(10:28):
random white girl in the middle of Wisconsin is not
going to talk this way. So I need everybody, I
need you guys to get it right. This is the
distinction I need us to have. There are Shawlas who
use like every other word. Okay. You can be in
the middle of South Central at a bus stop and
here brown and black people speaking with the word like.

(10:48):
It depends on who you're talking to, but this is
how people talk in Los Angeles and in southern California,
and I need us to get over Yeah, I think
that it will be okay, y'all, It's gonna be okay. Also,
I think of it this way. Human beings have not
always spoken in this manner. People in Los Angeles have

(11:09):
not always spoken in this manner. Film and television has
also outsourced this sort of like Valley Girl accent out
to the world, you know what I mean, clueless Bev Hills, uh,
San Fernando Valley, what Calabasas? What have you? Out to
the rest of the world, you know what I mean?
It gets exported and then other people start to talk

(11:31):
like this. I think like there's also something to be
said about, like this way of talking might not always
be here. We might move on to some other way
of talking. And I imagine like my great grandchildren like
listening to this podcast and being like, look how great
Grammy used to talk like she had this weird valley girl.
That's what your great grandchildren are going to sound like

(11:53):
like old people. That's that is that? That? That is
what they're gonna sound like. I mean, I don't know
what they're gonna sound like. I'm just taking a while
hopefully my great grandchildren will eventually get old. So I'm imagining,

(12:14):
imagining my great grandchild. But that's they're an old person,
you know what I mean? Yes, I do know what
you mean. I'm I'm dead. That's hilarious. Um, you want
to if you want to hear how your ancestors sounded,
and it's us. I don't know, like right, oh, that's funny.

(12:35):
Like it's not anything, you know, those those like cannon
like archives sounds of like public speakers orators like like
literally the sermons, beautiful words, shakesperience English not even Shakespeaire
language language. I'm thinking of, like the civil rights movement
and like all preachers orators you know in Spanish, English,

(13:02):
cross cultures, all of it. And then there does I
don't know, I don't know like so then I told
him and then I was like, and then he was like,
and then she was like, and then we were likely no.
But again rooting this conversation in journalism, y'all, there is

(13:22):
this Atlantic article about the evolution of like and like
at one point was used as an association with hesitation. However,
like has now according to this journalist. The journalists name
is John mcwarter and this article came out in UM
in the Atlantic and they say that like the use

(13:46):
of the word like has morphed into a modal marker
of the human mind at work and conversation. And I
love that because I feel that's when I'm using the
word like, especially on this podcast, when I'm in conversation
and I'm and I'm literally saying so, I was like,
and he was like, and she was like absolutely yes.
But I think specifically in this podcast, when I'm using

(14:07):
the word like, it's because I'm processing in real time
with y'all. And I think a lot of us do that,
And so you know, the journalists are saying that that
like has evolved and it's here to stay. Yeah. Can't
you see that I'm like evolving the English language. It's
not a signal of being a dumb bit, y'all. Okay,

(14:28):
my mind is at work. It means that. It means
that my brain is working. Okay, Like is a sign
of intelligence. All right, Yes, well we're gonna go in.
We're like this. We're linguists now. This is now a
linguistic podcast. This is linguistics and send this to the

(14:51):
Library of Congress. It's funny too, because when people, you know,
we'll have people approach us, we want to play your episode.
Oh God. For example, my lovely professor Willa Seidenberg, probably
radio Queen at USC, she wants to include look at

(15:11):
that our radio and her syllabus for next for spring
semester because she's teaching a podcasting class, and so she
asked me what two episodes can I include in the syllabus?
And I was like, Mala, like what do I send her?
Like the Nerves honestly, because there's episodes like this where
we're laughing and we're shooting the ship and you know,

(15:32):
and then we have the more serious episodes and I'm like,
it's range. That's what it's giving. It's giving range, And
I'm okay with that. I love that about Local. Um.
So then when we have these moments where people want
to listen and they want to listen to the best one,
I'm like, all of them, Yeah, exactly, they're all the best.
For all the best ones, remember that one time? It's yeah,

(15:54):
because it's like the show we wanted to be entertaining
and a fun listen. But then we also get these
types of requests and it's we want to be able
to have something of substance to turn over. I think
we do a balance of two. I mean, y'all don't
know the inner workings, but usually our process is if

(16:15):
we are divulging like really serious information and having an
intense conversation community conversation for a couple of episodes or
one episode, we intentionally choose the next episode to be
a light one because we want you to laugh and
we want you to have fun listening and share, you know,

(16:36):
both kinds of episodes, and that we can do do
both and we can do it all. Yeah, we want
to have We like to giggle too, so we like
doing the fun episodes too. Also, sometimes it's like things
are happening in the world and it's like, wow, we
really want to talk about this thing. And then that
I feel like, as we're doing these weekly episodes, it's like, Okay,

(16:57):
like we talked about this person, should we now talk
about this person, we discussed this, Should we now balance
it with this because we don't want the feed and
the topics to be lopsided. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. We
try to do it all as best as we can,

(17:17):
as best as we can, and we will continue to
use the word like, oh yeah, we can't. We literally can't.
We literally Mama can't even hear me saying like in
that clip that she can't even hear me saying it,
Oh my gosh. But we are preserving this is our dialect.
What do you want from me? Yes, when you're great

(17:39):
great grandchildren, listen to the audio archive, they will hear
they'll be like the old language. This is how the
elders spoke in olden times, using like every other word country.
Oh man, scary. What's what's happening in your future world? Girl?

(18:01):
With the way things are going, I know it's giving
end of times for real. Yeah, I get it, I
totally get it. But at least you can warm your
ears by our listening fire. Every week, can tune into
a new episode of Look at the Radio. We really
just we want to be like the meme of the
little dog and he's surrounded by flames. We want to

(18:22):
be We want to be the cup of cocoa you're
holding onto. That's us in the recording studio every week
like this is this is fine, This is fine putting
out the content anyway for our listeners, for y'all, because
we love you, Because we love you, and with that, um,
you know, it's a new year still season seven. We
have some exciting new episodes that we're going to be

(18:45):
producing this year. We have a mini series coming out
that is going to be all Things mental Health. That's
going to be just living here on the look at
the Feed, So we're really excited to bring you that
in the next coming weeks and our usual interviews with artists.
We have some really great ones slated for this year
and it's just rounding out to be a really incredible season.

(19:09):
Was an incredible year for us, and we're just excited
to see where this radio phonic novella goes in. So
thank you for rocking with us year after year. If
you're an o G listener, and if you're a new listener,
welcome and visit our website look at our radio dot
com and leave us a message. You can leave us
a voice message on speak pipe on our website. Tell

(19:32):
us about uh. Do you use the word like a
lot when you talk? Send us a voice message and
let us here. Are you a bacha? Are you a
valley girl? Do people always pick up part the way
that you speak? Tell us all about it. I have
a feeling there are more out there. I know our
listeners use the word like, and I know our listeners

(19:53):
are being told that they talk like white girls. I
just know it. Okay, wait, plug um, look up locas.
Last year we read Julisa says memoir you Sound like
a White Girl. She does unpack this in depth and
so definitely recommend checking out that book. This topic did
make me think right now, like, is there a Spanish

(20:14):
equivalent to the word like, Okay, people make fun of
the way that like Mexico City like talk right right.
I'm curious, so let us know, because I'm thinking of
my own youths in Spanish, and I can't think of one,
Like I can't think of an equivalent of me incessantly
using the same word over and over again, like pointing

(20:35):
it out. Yeah, I do have Spanish language trauma, y'all,
which we can dive into another episode. But yeah, I
think language, you know, evolves, and we evolve with it,
and we gotta let it evolve, and we gotta let
it flow, and we gotta let it be and let
let people talk how they talk, let people speak, leave
people alone. God, nothing, We've learned nothing, nothing from it.

(20:58):
We've learned nothing from anything, it's sad, h cry. This
has been another episode. Thank you for tuning in. I
hope that um the way we speak hasn't been too
grating for all of you out there. Thank you for
making it through. Thank you for tuning in, Thank you
for listening, Thank you for rocking with us. In spite
of our incessant use of the world alike, we appreciate

(21:19):
you like so much, like so much, We love you
like until next time. Look at That Our Radio is
a production of Look At That our Productions in partnership
with I Hearts Michael podcast Network. For more podcast listen
to the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

(21:42):
you listen to your favorite shows. Look at Radio Radio
phonic novella posted by Mala Muyas and Biosa. Then take

(22:46):
us to your network