I’ve been catching myself saying ‘like’ rather a lot lately. I use it when relating a previously given reaction or speech: "I was like if you’re going to assign a speech on a historic logographer you should at least give us a few criteria as to what you expect."

I like to think of myself as a rather articulate and well-spoken person (perhaps without reason, but that’s a debate for another time) and it galls me to use such a pop culture phrase.

But what should I use in lieu of ‘like’? "I expressed..."? "I reacted..."? "I stated...."?

But I’m doing more than just saying. I’m trying to relate both my words, attitude and body language. As far as I know there isn’t a word in English to relay all those things at once....

I’m like whatever.