The evolution of be like has been carefully documented in Canadian English (Taglia- monte and Hudson 1999; Tagliamonte and D’Arcy 2004, 2007b), revealing a remarkable trajectory of change characterized by a fourfold increase between 1995 and 2002 alone (Tagliamonte and D’Arcy 2004), establishing it as the primary quotative variant in the speech of contemporary Canadian youth. (See Figure 6.2.)
Recent research by Tagliamonte and D’Arcy (2007b) confirms that be like is essen- tially an under-40s phenomenon, with older speakers preferring the longstanding say variant.