And I’m Like, What Are You Saying?
Monday, October 24, 2005 at 08:56AM
Figaro

scottevil.jpgQuote:  "Well my friend Sweet Jay took me to that video arcade in town, right, and they don't speak English there, so Jay got into a fight and he's all, 'Hey quit hasslin' me cuz I don’t speak French' or whatever! And then the guy said something in Paris talk, and I'm like, 'Just back off!' And they’re all, 'Get out!' And we're like, 'Make me!'  It was cool." Scott Evil in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."

Figure of Speech:  dialogismus (die uh log IS muss), the one-person dialogue.

The dialogismus, in which the speaker uses other people's voices or recreates a conversation, may be the teenager's very favorite figure of speech.  The substitution of "like" for "said" serves as a disclaimer:  "The following quotation is an approximation, and only an approximation, of the dialogue that actually took place."

And you thought "like" was just, you know, annoying.

Snappy Answer:  "That would have made as much sense in Paris talk."

Article originally appeared on Figures of Speech (http://inpraiseofargument.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.