Like, You Know?

How does the poem differ in its two recensions? What reading does spoken word (orality) privilege? What does the textual writing space (unconventional as it is) play in the transmission of meaning?

In the video of Taylor Mali reciting the poem on youtube, I found myself quickly drawn in to what he was saying because I felt familiar and comfortable with his way of speaking. He talked like many of my friends, and just generally very similar to how many teenagers today vocalize their thoughts. We abuse the word 'like', throwing it in carelessly into conversation. It has become so common of a crime, in fact, that one often doesn't even realize that said crime has been committed.

When writing a private blog entry on another website, I write how I speak. Looking back on my older blogs online, I became shamefully aware how dreadful and casual my language has become. Some examples are:

"Man, iunno what to think."
"But, like, what also bothers me is..."
"I mean, i doubt..."
"Like, to find out he was close to them shocked me. I would figure that he would be closer to his guy friends, y’know?"

The word "like" has infiltrated both my written and oral language, I combine words because I'm too lazy to say/write them separately (re: "iunno"), I constantly feel the need to defend my arguments by using "I mean" instead of actually getting to the point, and then there's the obvious use of "y'know". I'm flabbergasted at my horrendous use of words, and absolutely terrified how common my mistakes are among society today. When Mali spoke, it was as if I was listening to a friend. It was only upon actually reading his poem in the unconventional writing space that I realized how. . .awkward. . .the use of such language was. It creates a type of informality in speech, giving it a more laid-back tone. This tone is full of uncertainty and laziness, making it sound as if the speaker does not care if he/she is right or wrong. It lacks power and, as Mali states, conviction.