I'm not really seeing the point of this article. I had already noticed that people are saying "like" a lot, and Hitchens doesn't do anything beyond making this observation. And he really <i>can't</i> do anything beyond that because he doesn't know anything about language, language change or syntax. (Although to be fair, these are not normally considered necessary qualifications for writing on this subject.)<p>Anyone who's actually interested in the grammar of "like"  would be better off reading something by someone who knows what they are talking about. E.g. this: <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820" rel="nofollow">http://www.jstor.org/stable/454820</a>