Soph far so good for head
If you get annoyed when the Love Islanders, like, insert the word like into their sentences, seemingly at, like, random – don’t.
They’re using a 250-year-old linguistic habit that serves an important purpose.
Countdown’s Susie Dent has defended the contestants’ use, describing one primary school as “draconian” for banning the word as an interjection. The ban came after Islanders repeated like 76 times in under five minutes during one broadcast.
In fact, after tracing the development of the original AngloSaxon word gelic through history, dictionary corner guru Susie said it was a “major surprise” to find the first recorded use of like as a filler back in 1774. “You’d think it was really modern, wouldn’t you?” says Susie.
“The fact is we have been using fillers like these for a very long time.” Referencing a study which assessed the ease of understanding two recordings of human voices – one with all the ums, ers and likes stripped out – Susie claims the pauses allow the audience time to “absorb” what is being said. “It’s a conversational habit that has some purpose,” she confirms on her podcast, Something Rhymes With Purple. Susie has reason to defend fillers, with her own use causing Countdown viewers considerable anguish. “One person writes irate letters saying she counts the ums and ers in my Origins of Words pieces,” she admits.
Meanwhile, if you thought all the major Love Island drama happened during a recoupling, think again. Producers had to contend with 14 raging goats invading the villa earlier this series.
ITV2’s location manager revealed that the wild goats trekked down from the Majorcan mountains and “ate some of the plants and broke some of the walls” on last night’s Aftersun spin-off. Silly billies.
Things are going pretty well for Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas.
So far this year, they got married – twice.
Brit Sophie’s up for an Emmy for her role in Game of Thrones, and Joe’s album with the
Jonas Brothers went to No1 in the US. Here’s Joe gushing that his wife is “so stunning” as she sits on his lap.
But Sophie’s feet are firmly on the ground – she was seen in Tesco
this weekend.