What Is Truth?

For thousands of years, people have asked a simple but powerful question: What is truth? Scientists, philosophers, and artists have all tried to answer it. But today, that question is often brushed aside. Instead of searching for truth, many people say it doesn’t really exist — that everyone has their own version.

This way of thinking is called relativism. It’s the idea that truth depends on the person rather than on reality itself. While it may sound open-minded, relativism has a big impact on how people think about morality, religion, and even the value of human life.

Truth: Objective or Personal?

To understand relativism, it helps to know that there are two different kinds of truth.

Objective truth is true no matter what anyone believes. The Earth is round, even though people once thought it was flat. Belief didn’t change reality.

Relative (or subjective) truth depends on personal opinion. Choosing a favorite ice cream flavor isn’t a matter of right or wrong — it’s preference.

Both kinds of truth exist. Problems arise when people treat everything — especially moral and religious questions — as if it were just personal opinion.

Relativism in Religion

Relativism often shows up in how people talk about religion. Christianity began with one Church, which Catholics believe was founded by Jesus and led by the apostles and their successors. Over time, disagreements caused groups to separate and form different Christian denominations, each with its own beliefs and interpretations of the Bible.

From a Catholic perspective, the truth itself did not change — people’s interpretations did. The Catholic Church teaches that it preserves the full truth handed down from Jesus, while other denominations may hold parts of that truth but not the whole of it. Relativism, on the other hand, claims that all beliefs are equally true simply because people believe them.

When Morality Becomes Relative

Relativism doesn’t stop with religion. It also affects morality. Today, phrases like “That’s your truth” or “What’s right for you isn’t right for me” are common. This idea, called moral relativism, suggests there’s no universal standard for right and wrong.

The danger is that without an objective moral standard, anything can be justified. If everyone decides their own rules, society loses a clear way to say that some actions are truly wrong — not just unpopular or inconvenient.

Where Do Moral Values Come From?

Moral beliefs are rooted in what we believe has value. In Western culture, the idea that every human life matters comes from the belief that people are created by God. That belief gives every person dignity, no matter their age, strength, or abilities.

When God is removed from the picture, human value is decided by people instead. That means dignity can become conditional — based on usefulness, independence, or opinion — rather than something every person naturally has.

Why Truth Still Matters

Perhaps you are still unconvinced. Perhaps you do not believe in God, and so it is easier to live life with your own set of morals that you are comfortable with. Relativism may sound harmless, but it has real consequences.

When truth and morality become flexible, serious issues are treated as personal choices instead of moral realities. Without shared truth, society loses its moral foundation.

Even when people deny objective truth, it doesn’t disappear. Gravity still works whether you believe in it or not. In the same way, moral truth exists whether or not it’s accepted.

It is in our very nature as human beings to know that there is right and wrong; there is good and evil. Truth isn’t something we create. It’s something we discover — and choose to live by. The challenge is having the courage to stand up for it — not just what’s popular, easy, or convenient.

We must pick a side. We must not choose a moral path of our own making. If you want to be a force of change in the world, stand for truth.

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My grandpa always says how he fell in love with my grandmother’s big brown eyes.

He says I have her big brown eyes.

Although, I wish people would look past my big brown eyes.

I wish people would look at the way I sympathize.

Look at the way I’m paralyzed by my fear and my worries.

Every night I have this recurring dream.

I wake up in a sea on a thin sheet of wood.

This sea slowly changes from calm to raging.

My brain starts disengaging.

I lose track of the things in my life.

These big brown eyes don’t just smile.

They cry rivers of tears

Flooding my senses

and Making me senseless.

These big brown eyes need to be wiped.

They need to be cared for.

They need to be prepared for the hardships to come.

These big brown eyes need someone to step closer and realize they aren’t just brown

But green, and a little yellow when the sun hits them just right.

The only emotion they have isn’t sadness

But a mix of confusion and pride.

These big brown eyes need someone to guide them home.

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The way most people talk to each other has drastically changed in the past few decades. Words, phrases, and jokes are being spoken that would have been absolutely shocking a century ago. Foul language was only spoken by those who were considered “indecent.” Now words like the F-bomb are so commonplace that even children will speak them in conversation. But why does this actually matter? Just because certain ways of speaking were taboo in some other outdated culture doesn’t mean that they are now. How can things like swearing, sexual humor, and sarcasm be a problem? Well, because words really do have power. In fact, they are one of the most powerful forces in the world.

Since words are our way of communicating what we think and feel, they have a direct influence on everyone who hears them. For example, I bet you aren’t thinking about donuts right now, but now that I have mentioned them, you probably are. To take it even further, imagine a large, fluffy donut with a thick layer of shimmering glaze on the outside. It is soft to the touch, and the glaze is so fresh that its gooey texture sticks to your fingers. I’m willing to bet that now you probably are not just thinking about a donut, but you are starting to want one. Perhaps you aren’t. Perhaps you don’t like glazed donuts for some strange reason. But even then, what you just read prompted you to some sort of reaction.

No matter what, when we communicate verbally to another person, we are influencing what they think about, and sometimes even the way that they think. In fact, by reading this very article you are being influenced in some way. Whether that be toward agreement or disagreement with my point, you are thinking more deeply about this topic than you were before you started reading.

But what you say doesn’t just affect others; it also affects you.

The words that we say begin with a thought in our own minds, and when we speak that thought, it actually reinforces our thinking. Psychological evidence shows that if someone repeats a certain phrase numerous times daily over the course of a few weeks, it can actually rewire that person’s brain to come to believe that statement, even if they did not believe it before. Some communist countries have used this as a tactic in their re-education camps for POWs. By making their prisoners repeatedly speak phrases and sentences that are affirming to their communist regime, they eventually start to question what they believe to be true. This can clearly be seen in our own behavior.

For example, I used to work for a Catholic ministry that hosted overnight retreats for teens. There was one group of boys that was adamant about how much they did not want to be there. All they did was complain. There was one moment when everyone was eating breakfast. I remember quite a few teens on the retreat complimenting the food. They enjoyed it and wanted seconds. But not this group. They tried it and thought it was so gross that they refused to eat any more. Same food. Same day. Totally different attitude. By constantly reinforcing the idea that everything at the camp was a bad experience, they convinced themselves that the food, which was ordinarily enjoyable, was disgusting.

If our words have such an effect on others and on ourselves, then we need to take a closer look at the kinds of things that have become normal in our modern culture’s communication. It only takes a couple of minutes on the Internet to see that our world is full of swearing, sexual humor, complaining, and negativity towards others and oneself. These trends in speech are very destructive. Although we might not think that it means anything, when we use foul language and curse words we are choosing to carelessly throw around racial slurs, sexual euphemisms, vulgarities, and more.

There seems to be some dark part of us that revels in speaking an evil word for its own sake, and that ought to concern us. Vulgar sexual humor is even more destructive. Sex is one of the most sacred aspects of being human. It is created to be the deepest expression of love between two individuals, and it serves as the foundation of a healthy family. When sex is misused and removed from its proper context, as it is so severely in the modern day, it destroys families and damages one’s ability to love purely and authentically. When the jokes that we make lead us to rejoice in the perversion of sexuality, we are setting ourselves up for failure and influencing ourselves to see others as sexual objects rather than people.

There are so many ways speech can significantly impact us, negatively and positively. But my encouragement to you is this: if you still are not convinced, I challenge you to try to spot how the things that you hear others say seem to affect you and/or themselves. The Bible describes the tongue as a rudder that steers a ship. What we say is so powerful that it can literally steer the direction of our lives, or even the lives of others. If you want to do good, speak what is good and virtuous to others, and encourage them to do the same. If we can change our culture’s speech, we might just be able to change the world.

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We hear the term “prayer” used, but what does it mean? Does it mean reciting the same outdated prayers used for decades such as the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus gave us, or a Hail Mary, which dates back to the 16th century? No. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), a book about Church doctrine, says, “This mystery, (faith), then requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.” CCC 2558. What the Catechism is saying is that prayer is the relationship with God.

Prayer is how we communicate with God the Father, Jesus, and/or Holy Spirit. This relationship is supposed to be PERSONAL. Prayer isn’t supposed to look uniform, the same way that communication between friends looks different. So, what does it mean to have a personal relationship with God? It starts just like any other relationship, with an introduction and openness. One thing to remember is that prayer isn’t us initiating a relationship with God, but rather a response to his call.

“God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; yet, the living and true God tirelessly calls each person to that mysterious encounter known as prayer. In prayer, the faithful God’s initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation.” CCC 2567

God keeps calling you on the phone. He is always initiating, and prayer is you choosing to answer the phone. So, how do you get started? Well, first off, prayer isn’t your inner monologue. It isn’t you having a conversation with yourself. Rather, it is allowing God to use the voice of the mind to converse with you. If God created you – your senses, your imagination, your intellect – wouldn’t it make sense that he would and does use those to communicate with you? Sometimes, we think that God’s going to speak to us through a billboard on the highway or a sign that’s going to hit us in the face, but more often than not, he wants to speak to us through the mundane. Why? Because he wants to be able to communicate at all times.

Close your eyes and say your first, middle, and last name in your head. It’s okay, just do it. Did it sound scary or did it sound normal? Sometimes we imagine God’s going to speak to us like how Mufasa appeared in the clouds to talk to Simba (The Lion King), a loud booming voice from the sky. Honestly, if that happened to me, I would freak out. It’s important to note that Simba isn’t freaked out because that voice, the voice of his father, is familiar. When God talks to us, He doesn’t want to scare us.

How about our imagination? St. Ignatius of Loyola developed a type of prayer allowing the individual to enter Biblical stories as if they were fully present, using all the senses. The best way to start is to imagine something already familiar: your bedroom (it could be another room if you want). Close your eyes and place yourself there. Use all five senses to get a “feel” for the room in great detail. What was that like? Did it seem easy or hard? If it was difficult or “fuzzy” try again. Practice makes perfect. It’s important to know that the mind is a muscle, it needs exercise and practice. It’s easy to be discouraged, but don’t be.

So at this point, you’ve heard your name and you’ve seen your room! That’s amazing! Time to move on to the next step. When conversing with God, there are three key things to know. God will only speak things that are 1) good; 2) upbuilding; and 3) true. All three of these criteria need to be met. If God is good, why would he ever say something bad about you? God’s also a good father, so why would he ever try to tear you down? And finally, God cannot lie; he can only speak what is true.

So, just like any conversation or new relationship, it’s good to ask questions. One of the best to start with is simply, “God, do you love me?” This question is simple because the answer is yes; however, it’s important to not let your mind “say” the obvious answer, but WAIT for the Lord to respond. It’s also good to note that you might see something in your imagination or feel something, like being hugged. If you don’t hear anything, ask again. Be persistent.

And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10

And from this place, there are endless questions you can ask. God, what do you think about me? What is your plan for my life? How can I grow in holiness today? And if you question whether or not what you see or hear is you, ask yourself: is it good, true, and upbuilding? If even one of those qualifications is not met, it’s not God. The reality is, it’s tough at first. Relationships take practice, and they take dedication. It’s not going to be perfect the first time, but be patient. Trust that the Lord will show up.

He’s there, always waiting for you. The question is, are you open to the way He wants to speak?

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Living on Newark’s Courthouse Square for two years, I got to view the courthouse right outside my window. It lit up my place and I counted on all of its wonderful attributes – the bell ringing telling me the time, the music that sometimes flowed from it, and just the light that I’d gaze upon from my bedroom window at night when trying to fall asleep.

These are just some of the pictures I took during that time. I like the purple one the best!! Show us your pictures, and provide a caption if you do.

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Who is God? Or, what is God?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, non-Christian religions would define God as “a superhuman being or spirit worshipped as having power over nature or human fortunes; a deity …” or someone of divine nature. The dictionary gives a second definition in the Christian, monotheistic sense as God being “the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.” At first glance, to a middle- or high-schooler, both definitions give levitating dictator-ish vibes. “Worshipped as having power over nature” and “source of all moral authority” seem to be pretty strong statements. So the question still stands: who or what is God?

When we try to describe someone or something, we tend to talk about things they’ve done or accomplished. However, we frequently fail to discuss the nature or the character of someone. For example, if I wanted to describe one of my friends to you, I might say, “She’s really good at playing the cello or at ad-libbing bedtime stories.” This might give you some insight, but if you’re asking about her, you might want to know more about her tendencies, how might she respond to different situations and who she is as a person. I might say, “She is patient and seeks to understand rather than to respond. She likes to think things through and is very intentional. And she likes to have fun.” This gives you a greater idea of who she is as a person. See the difference?

Sometimes when it comes to God, we tend to stop at the first set of questions. We let actions and selective statements obscure our vision and perception. I grew up Catholic, but maybe you didn’t.

Even with my Catholic upbringing and education, I didn’t know the nature of God or His character. At Mass and in my religion classes, I heard a lot about rules and commandments. Up until I was 20, the Catholic faith was just a bunch of rules. This might be how you view Christianity, and that is understandable.

This perspective made me see God as just a taskmaster. If you look at the Old Testament, the first part of the Bible, there are a bunch of examples of punishment when the chosen people of God didn’t follow His commandments.

So let’s go back to the first question: who is God? Some think the Christian God is far off and distant, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Psalm 139, in the Old Testament, says, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me!” Different translations have it written, “Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.” King David, the author of the Psalm and a king of God’s people in biblical times, isn’t writing this depicting God as a stalker, but as someone who is so invested in your life. It goes on to say, “You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.” Why? To show God goes before and behind to protect you from anything trying to harm you. My favorite translation of this verse says, “You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness, you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.” Preparation and kindness. This doesn’t sound like something that would come from someone who has malice against you.

So what do we know about God so far? He’s not distant. He wants to be in your life. He prepares for you and doesn’t want you to be harmed. This sounds like an active God, not a passive one.

So what should you know next? God LOVES you. And it’s not just the obligatory love we see so often in today’s society, but rather a love that is faithful and chooses to put others before oneself. The faithfulness of God is, personally, my favorite attribute of his nature. Merriam-Webster says, “FAITHFUL implies unswerving adherence to a person or thing or to the oath or promise by which a tie was contracted.” So, no matter what, God will not break His promise, His covenant. Just think about our lives – how often are we susceptible to breaking our promises out of convenience, forgetfulness, or just laziness? Timothy, one of the New Testament writers, says this about God, “… if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.” Like, woah. “He cannot DENY himself.” Timothy isn’t just describing a quality of God, but rather the what-ness of God. Like, what God is, is faithful.

God loves you. The whole Bible is ultimately a love story and one about sacrifice. Here’s the gist: God loves YOU. Not like y’all you, but you, right now, reading this sentence. He LOVES you.

When Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis and sin entered into the world, God had a plan of redemption for YOU. Even though Jesus came into the world 2,000 years ago, God had YOU in mind when He came. He knew you would sin and He loved you too much to leave you in your sin. He loved you so much that God sent His son Jesus to pay the price of your sins. St. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When the price of your sin was death, God said NO and sent His perfect son to die in your place, forever removing the debt. And the crazy thing is this: God doesn’t just love you, He actually likes you. Like, He wants to be around you.

God isn’t far off. He’s not distant. He wants to be so involved in your life and He will be if you let Him. The answers to who is God and what is God are literally infinite. And so I encourage you, if you want to find the answers to those questions, simply ASK Him. He’s waiting for you.

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Passion equals purpose and locally, C-TEC has been molding the passion of local learners into a valued and necessary workforce for almost 50 years. The Career & Technology Centers of Licking County, more commonly known as C-TEC, is coming up on its golden anniversary of building the talent pool of Licking County’s trade school graduates.

Recently, I had the privilege of talking with Brian Wilfong, communications coordinator for C-TEC of Licking County, about how trade schools compare with traditional four-year institutions and some of the things high-school students and adults should consider when looking for a refresher or change of profession.

What are some of the current growing/popular/trending areas of study?

Public service is doing really well right now. I find that very interesting. Paramedic, EMT, firefighting. There has been an uptick in that. Health care has always been a pretty popular field. The skilled trades right now – there’s a huge emphasis on that. We’ve been pushing that for years, … but just in the ten years that I’ve been here, we’ve seen a significant increase to the number of people interested in those. CNC machining (Computer Numerical Control), robotics, automation, welding, things like that. In fact, of the things that we really have to focus on with our students is that they’re coming to us in those fields specifically, and they’re getting the skills and getting the certifications, and the employers want them to come work for them even before the complete the program. It’s ‘Oh, hey you’ve got the skills and we can work with you from there.’ So, we’re fighting to say, ‘No, no, no. Stay here and get it done. You’ve just got two months left and then go. Complete it.’

So, it’s just the demand of the industry?

The demand is so great.

And of course, IT (Information Technology) is massive and IT is one of those fields where honestly, I’ve sat in panel discussions and I’ve watched CEOs and different IT firms here in Central Ohio who have said, ‘I don’t care if you have a Ph.D. or if you have a GED, if you have these certifications – and they rattled some of them off – I will hire you.’ The end.

Because the certification tests are difficult, which is why we teach them the skill set. … The certification is proof you know how to do this. And that’s the emphasis, especially in those IT fields.

How would you compare C-TEC or trade schools to a typical four-year university?

Well, number one obviously, we don’t take four years.

Most … of our programs are completed in a year. Most of our programs are certificate-bearing. So, there’s options for multiple certifications and articulations at the end of or during those programs. And obviously, cost is a huge factor. We are not anywhere close to the cost of traditional … four-year and higher institutions.

A lot of our programs articulate with two-year degrees. So, you do the first year of your program here and then you might move on to COTC (Central Ohio Technical College) for your second year and to complete the degree. We are part of what they call the … post-secondary pathway. So you can start a degree here; you do not earn a degree at C-TEC, post-secondary, but it can be part of a … degree-bearing path. So, the cost and the time and really the environment are probably the three most significant factors in terms of the difference between a traditional four-year institution.

I will say that it’s very, very rare that someone comes to our post-secondary center and doesn’t know what they’re going for. And, of course, that’s not the case for a lot of the four-year institutions. I mean, when I went for my undergraduate degree, I had no idea what I was going for my freshman year and not only did I not know, the school encouraged me to not know. It said, ‘Do your Gen Eds (General Education Requirements – prerequisites to declaring a major and taking major-related coursework) and see what happens.’ So that’s a big difference, too.

You touched on it [earlier]: ‘Would one enter a trade school without an area of study in mind?’ Do you have guidance counselor-type individuals for somebody who is thinking about it … in high school and needs somebody to talk through it?

We do. And that’s not something that’s specifically isolated to our post-secondary center. We have district-level positions; we call them career development coordinators, and there are a couple of them. They … visit or they actually have hours set up at every public school in Licking County. Those career development coordinators’… job is to be a career counselor.

You know, if there is a second-grader that says they want to be a doctor, then there needs to be someone saying to them, well, this is what that entails. We say all the time here, ‘Careers come later, but the works starts now.’ We’re not talking about pressuring second-graders who want to be doctors into higher-level math and all that, but we should be very honest with them at the appropriate level about what that means, what that looks like. Because honestly, even 7th and 8th grade, if you’ve not thought about something that requires a lot of post-secondary education before then, the chances of you going and successfully completing that field aren’t good. The stats back that up.

How would you “sell” a trade school education to someone discerning between that and a 4-year university?

Well, it’s all about immediate goal and return on investment. So, that student needs to know what it is that they want. Again, we’re not knocking traditional pathways, we’re just saying you need to know what your pathway is. And if the career path that this person is interested in can be accomplished in less time for less money, all the while in an institution like ours where business and industry are on site, where we’re there, where we partner with them to develop curriculum, … then why wouldn’t you do that?

If your desired career path requires a four-year degree, well then, we’re not appropriate. If you want to go into law, if you want to go into medicine, then you need to go that route. Some of our programs in the health-care field, you could start here and end up there. It depends on the field. And in that case, you can get a certification here that you might need that’s relevant to your degree field, use that certification to be employed in that field while you continue the rest of the higher-education path. That’s obviously a path also, and it will save you money because we’re significantly cheaper. Even just one year here is significantly cheaper than one year someplace else.

And classes in a trade school are – I’ll say sometimes, but really, I think the truth is – always much smaller than they are at a traditional four-year institution. And for some students that’s needed.

What is the admissions process?

If a student has a program they are interested in, they can contact us through the website which is https://www.c-tec.edu/on the post-secondary side and we will really work them one-on-one to remove any barriers. Sometimes they are financial, sometimes they’re work, they’re schedule related, things like that. If they don’t have a diploma or GED, we can work with them to get that, and they can get that here. GEDs are not issued to us, but we have classes and whatnot that we can get them to that threshold. And every student needs to take … aptitude tests for our full-time programs which finds out skill levels … and where they are and if they need remedial help. They complete the FAFSA® (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), just as you would with a traditional four-year institution or two-year institution. Again, we assist with that. That helps them, of course, for financial aid. And then depending on the programs they’re in and when the start dates are, we work with them on enrollments. The nice thing is that when a student contacts us and says ‘I’m interested,’ we make sure they’re really interested and that they know what it’s about, and then they got one-on-one help through the rest of that process. They would have a phone number; they would have a name of an individual who would help guide them through that.

“Traditional” universities are typically assessed a four-year graduation time frame. How do trade schools compare?

Most of our full-time programs are completed within 12-14 months, from start to finish. And there are some short-term I’m-just-coming-in-for-some-certification-type options – STNA (State Tested Nurse Aide), things like that – but full-time programs are typically 12-14 months.

Is there anything else you want to leave us with? Anything we missed?

We have such a robust university system in Ohio, and that’s not the case in a lot of places. Post-secondary education is important and we are a part of that.

* Author’s note: Interview answers and questions have been edited for both length and clarity.

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Like, what is going on here?

The word “like” — we all use it, youth especially. This strong influence in our conversational language seems to have developed a life of its own, and we cringe hearing it; to some it may even suggest ignorance. But the use of the term “like” is far-reaching and has become commonplace. How did we get here?

What does “like” mean in our everyday conversations?

The prepositional definition of “like” in Merriam-Webster simply means “similar to,” but the word has become much more than that. We see it overused, and we ask this: Why do we need to say something is similar to something else instead of just letting it be that something? It’s as if we’re not confident enough to make a definitive statement. We hesitate. We use “like” as a crutch. And many may not even realize they’re saying it. How is this possible?

How did it start?

Thinking about the word “like,” one might wonder about how it’s become so prevalent in everyday conversation. Maybe we think of Valley Girl culture, as sprung from the 1980s movie, as part of that transformation. A Valley Girl, according to grunge.com, is a “… stereotype defined by tween and teen girls from Southern California’s affluent San Fernando Valley. Often depicted as materialistic, air-headed, and sometimes snarky, Valley Girls had their own style of dress and makeup, complete with their own color palette of bright pastels.” Phrases from the Valley Girl era that immediately come to mind are, “Like, oh my gosh, can you believe it?” or “Like, for real.”

Used by the Beatniks

The truth is that using the word “like” goes back even further than Valley Girls; it seems to have gained traction with the Beatniks in the 1950s, who were considered an artistic subculture. According to Merriam-Webster, a Beatnik was “a person who participated in a social movement of the 1950s and early 1960s which stressed artistic self-expression and the rejection of the mores of conventional society.” They similarly used “like” as a hesitation in their speaking, as they were characters reluctant to openly judge or reject others, and tormented with uncertainly in themselves.

“Like” can be useful

Based on these examples, it seems that subcultural trends have a tendency to blend into our everyday language. This influence now has us using the term “like” in various ways: For one, it’s being used to compare similarities: “She is like a plastic bag in the wind,” or multiple times in a sentence to describe a situation: “I came home to like, a huge mess, with like, my roommates just standing there watching, and like, nobody knew what to do,” or to quote other people and their actions: “He was like, ‘I don’t even know her.’” Another way it’s used might be to fill uncomfortable spaces in a conversation: “I just don’t know … like, I just don’t know why she would do that.” Also, it can buy time for the speaker to collect their thoughts. It’s a filler while they figure out what to say next.

“Like” is not slacker language at all as we might quickly judge; it goes far back and has simply become used more regularly. It can serve multiple other linguistics functions. Its usage seems to suggest that everything is like itself, rather than itself. It demonstrates our thoughts in motion as we’re speaking. We use it to pinpoint factuality in what we’re saying: “There were like, hundreds of people standing around.” What the speaker means is this: For real, there truly were hundreds of people standing around. Why the need to use “like”? Because it simply reinforces what we’re saying. It can also soften the blow for your listener: “Like, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Your message is still being delivered, but it’s gentler.

While the term “like” may be overused, it’s simply become a part of our culture, for the educated and uneducated alike. Listen and you will hear it everywhere. Crutch or not, it evidently serves some needed purpose, otherwise it wouldn’t have made it this far, and it will be interesting to see how it evolves in the language of future generations.

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