I was like, 'No way!'

Posted by June on August 18, 2025

I was like, “No way.”

The word “like” is legend among grammar grumblers. There are several uses of "like" that they take issue with. But the one they hate most is when it's a synonym for “said.”

“I was like, ‘totally.’”

“She was like, ‘Right?’”

And so on.

This use of “like” has been annoying parents for so long now that the annoyers are becoming parents themselves. And by the time the perpetrators of X, Y or Z language atrocity enter adulthood, their language quirks usually become mainstream, accepted, correct.

No, that’s not a bad thing. That’s how pretty much every word became a word and how every correct usage today became correct usage. Everything was wrong once. So I was wondering if “like” had yet gained any respectability as a formal substitute for “said.”

I’m not finding any evidence that it has. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary does not mention the usage. And Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage, which is normally the first to defend such contested constructions, doesn’t mention it either.

So technically “I was like, ‘No way” isn’t sanctioned in formal speech yet.

Still, I kind of like it. It has a connotation that “said” does not. It suggests a reaction that may or may not have been overtly spoken. So it affords the user a freedom that “said” does not.

“I was like, ‘No way’” can mean that those were the words you spoke or that those were the words that ran silently through your head. But “I said, ‘No way’” leaves no such wiggle room. So this usage of “to be like,” which I bet will be sanctioned someday, can be a lot more fun.