PORTALBERITA.CO.ID - The author, Mason Andrew, has identified a persistent linguistic annoyance he is willing to fiercely defend against: the rampant use of imprecise and redundant speech, particularly the word "like." This personal crusade against verbal clutter is framed as a deeply held conviction, inherited from his own educational background.
As reported by Mason Andrew, the issue mirrors the frustration he experiences with physical littering outside his home in the Norfolk countryside. He questions the relationship between the consumption of fast food and antisocial behavior, noting that while he avoids both, his own indiscretions—such as flatulence—are thankfully ephemeral.
The core of the author's irritation lies in the current trend of interjecting speech with vague qualifiers designed to project an image of coolness or modesty. This fashion for verbal padding, he contends, actively obstructs clear thought transmission.
According to Mason Andrew, his classical humanist education emphasized rigorous sentence construction and the maintenance of a coherent train of thought. He contrasts this ideal with the modern linguistic landscape, which he sees as increasingly dominated by a generic accent associated with the Thames corridor.
The author notes the decline of regional dialects, such as the Norfolk "Mardle," lamenting the rise of widespread glottal stops and homogenized speech patterns. He expressed a strong preference for hearing authentic local language over current trends.
A particularly frustrating incident involved speaking to a sixth-form group, where an intelligent young woman used "like" so frequently that a simple statement took an inordinate amount of time. The author recounted this experience, saying, "Afterwards, in private, I begged her to stop doing it."
The reliance on these verbal crutches has even affected the author's listening habits, making contemporary BBC Radio 4 almost unbearable. He described the experience for fluent speakers as akin to "being hit repeatedly on the head with a foam rubber mallet by a stoned Barbary ape."
Mason Andrew suggests that while "like" is the most prevalent culprit, it is far from the only offender in the realm of grammatical fillers, which also include common placeholders like "um" and "er." He humorously stated his desire to silence those who "kind of sort of think it’s cool to kind of sort of waste everybody’s time with their (like) contentless blether. And stuff. And shit."
The piece was penned by Mason Andrew, whose fourth novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, achieved global success in 1994. The article was published on June 13, 2026, at 20:33.
