The word "like" has exploded into the American vocabulary like a hydrogen bomb. I challenge you to speak to anyone under the age of 30 for any length of time, without having the word in every other sentence. It is especially annoying when it is used to begin a sentence. "Like I went to the store," is not a true English sentence.

The Webster's Dictionary defines the word like: 1) "Bearing a close or faithful resemblance"; 2) "In the manner of" - like father, like son; 3) Like can be used in place of "as if," - It sounds like a train is coming.

The Thesaurus uses synonyms - analogous, equal, identical, resembling, similar and indistinguishable , for the word like.

A true story about the word like. I was teaching English to a Russian émigré. His English was acceptable but he needed conversational practice. He was in the USA about two years and he had an 11-year-old son. The father had a pronounced Russian accent, but the boy had almost no accent. The boy used "like" incorrectly in every sentence and sometimes even twice or three times.

When I tried to correct the boy, he squelched me directly. "My teacher uses it all the time, so it must be correct," said the 11-year-old. I withdrew sheepishly as I did not want to challenge the American educational system.

Some other idiomatic expressions have caught my ear.

- "Awesome" - It is "wow" with added reverence.

- "No Problem" - Then you know you have a real problem.

- "It was so fun." - Now, something is wrong with the grammar in that sentence, but I don't know exactly what. All I know is that it hurts my ears.

- "Ya know" (You know) - is used as a space filler in conversation and has no real meaning. It is in the same category as Yada, Yada, Yada.

- The word "Rule" is used in an interesting manner. "The Knicks rule" means that the Knick team is very good. It's a cute turn of a phrase and it catches my attention every time I hear it.

- "Don't even think about it" - was barked at me by my 5-year-old grandchild, Rachel. She heard it on the TV show Friends. A new idiom has been formed!

I enjoy some of the newer idioms better than others!

I am quite sure our English language will survive!

"Like, I really hope it does!