Small Moves

This may not seem much of a triumph, but I have completely eliminated the word "like" from my intelligent conversation. This is to say that I no longer use it when I am talking in class. Talking with my friends informally is still fair game right now, although I am working really hard to stop it. The downside is I can hardly bear listening to my classmates in class anymore, because we really are the "like" culture, and it just isn't intelligent sounding. Now that I have eliminated it, when i hear other people use it, the word screams. I am forever indebted to my professor Marina who has forbidden "like" from her classroom, and I would encourage all teachers to do the same.
So I'm working on the likes in my normal conversation, but i find it particularly hard to do when i am telling a story with dialogue. Instead of saying "He said such and such" I say "he was like such and such" but no! he wasn't like anything!b