I sat recently for a brief conversation with a man who had retired after having taught at Manatee High School for 34 years. One of the things that he felt constrained to mention was what to him was the deterioration in the ability of kids to speak. As if to illustrate this a young ball player was interviewed prior to a recent Rays game who filled up every pause with ‘you know’. I was, you know, embarrassed, you know, for, you know, him. I think the man would have had a lot of value to say, but it was very hard to listen.

All of that leads me to quote, one last time, from David McCullough’s commencement address to the students at Boston University. His comments are, like, awesome, dude.

“And please, please, do what you can to cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation. I’m talking about the relentless, wearisome use of the words, ‘like,’ and ‘you know,’ and ‘awesome,’ and ‘actually.’ Listen to yourselves as you speak.

”Just imagine if in his inaugural address John F. Kennedy had said, ‘Ask not what your country can, you know, do for you, but what you can, like, do for your country actually.’“

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