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The word like has developed several non-traditional uses in informal speech. These uses of like are commonly associated with Valley girls in pop culture, as made famous through the song "Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa, released in 1982, and the film of the same name, released in the following year. The stereotyped "valley girl" language is an exaggeration of the variants of California English spoken by younger generations.
However, non-traditional usage of the word has been around at least since the 1950s, introduced through beat and jazz culture. The beatnik character Maynard G. Krebs (Bob Denver) in the popular Dobie Gillis TV series of 1959-1963 brought the expression to prominence. A very early use of this locution can be seen in a New Yorker cartoon of 15 September 1928, in which two young ladies are discussing a man's workplace: "What's he got - an awfice?" "No, he's got like a loft."
The word finds similar use in Scooby Doo (which originated in 1969) : Shaggy: "Like, let's get out of here, Scoob!"
The Top Cat TV Cartoon series from 1961-62 often used the word in a similar way to the above Scooby Doo quote, as quoted by the jazz beatnik type characters. It's shown in the 1962 Top Cat Annual several times too, e.g. "Like, that Mr Gaff is a real grouch"
It is also used in the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by the narrator as part of his teenage slang. "I, like, didn't say anything."
Such uses of the word like can now be found everywhere English is spoken, particularly by young, native English speakers.
A common eye dialect spelling is lyk.
