I was like...

As an English learner you may have noticed by watching American or British television programs or having English speaking friends or teachers that the way they use 'like' in conversation is often different than the way you learned it in school. In the English language we use 'like' in many different ways for different situations.

How you learn 'like'
In English class you learn 'like' to say that you favor one thing over the other. You preference towards food, animals, music, movies etc.

I like pizza.
She likes pink.
He likes action movies.
They like snowboarding.
We use like to compare one thing to another thing in the way we sense it (see, hear, taste, smell or feel).

See-looks like
Hear-sounds like
Taste-tastes like
Smell-smells like
Feel-feels like

Example Conversations

A: Hey, what's that smell?
B: I don't know, but it smells good.
A: Yeah. It smells like fried chicken.
B: Oh yeah. Let's buy some.
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A: What's that over there?
B: Oh wow that's cool. What is that?
A: Looks like a museum doesn't it.
B: Yeah. Let's go check it out.
A: OK let's go!

How you may not have learned 'like'
Feels like can be used when we touch something
A: I like your shirt, what's it made of?
B: I'm not sure but it feels like wool.

Or when we have an emotion.
A: What's it feel like to be in love?
B: Well, it feels like living in Disney land or hitting a home run in the championship game.

The meaning of 'like' can also become a comparison of one thing to another. Everything in life is like something (an action or emotion) to something else.
A: I was writing a blog post when my computer shut down and I lost all my work!
B: That's like the worst thing that can happen.
A: Yeah, it was like getting hit in the stomach.

Constantly we use like in the above example, but when we say 'I was like (something)' it doesn't have to or usually mean the thing we did.
A: I was at the store and this guy was standing really close to me and I was like 'go away'.
B: Really, did you say that?
A: No. I just walked away.
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A: We went to this really scary movie and I was like screaming the whole time.
B: Didn't the people around get annoyed?
A: I wasn't literally screaming the whole time, but you know what I mean.
B: Of course.

The next time you speak with your English teacher, friends or watch a television or movie in English I hope you can noticed when 'like' is used in its different variations and you'll be able to understand the meaning clearly.

Thanks for reading and happy learning!

Chromatic English School