Slang

I admit, I say it. Not in a pathological, valley-girl way, but in a casual, filler way. Sometimes it's unconscious, a nervous tick, and other times it punctuates a thought and just sounds right. It's easy, it's colloquial, and it's so widespread that I thought nobody cared anymore. After all, this is a language where BFF can make it into the dictionary!

But this week actress Emma Thompson brought "like" back into the negative spotlight when she lamented that teenagers need to avoid saying it around older, authority figures. Does it even have anything to do with youth at this point? Aren't the teenagers who made it mainstream in the early '80s now in their, like, 40s?

There are several grammatically incorrect ways to use like, but that doesn't make them uncommon. It can indicate exaggeration, as I did above ("in their, like, 40s"); be used to introduce a quote ("she was like"); or signify a gesture, facial expression, or sound ("it was like"). But nowhere is it more common than as a filler (as in "um" or "ah" or "like"), and fillers are nothing new.

John Ayto, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, said fillers are not lazy or sloppy, or a sign of approaching end-times for the English language. "We all use fillers because we can't keep up highly monitored, highly grammatical language all the time," he said. "We all have to pause and think." In fact, Anglo Saxons probably did the same thing.

The reason people like Thompson get so upset with the use of "like" as a filler is because, unlike "um" and "ah," it's an actual word. And if there's one thing word traditionalists don't like, it's when words find breakout success by using themselves in entirely new ways.

I say as long as it's not, like, every other word out of your mouth, you're OK.

Most of the always-polite Brits now only use "thank you" as a last resort when expressing gratitude, and "cheers" has become the preferred way to say thanks.

Forty percent of British people polled said "thank you" sounds too formal — isn't that why there's "thanks"? — and would rather dole out praise with terms like "brilliant," "lovely," and, apparently, "you star 11, all right."

Get the 19 most popular ways below

We were remiss not to cover the misogynistic mess that is MTV's Jersey Shore in December, but it's a new year and everybody needs a resolution. The show walks a careful, tan line between spellbinding and appalling, and last night's episode veered more toward the appalling end of the shore.

Ronnie continually emotionally abuses Sammi — telling her she has a "Fred Flinstone toe" and getting unspeakably mad when she tells him to "go f— himself." Then she blames herself for angering him! I don't know why I am surprised; both the girls and guys on the show continually put down women. You don't even need to watch the show — just look at their choicest words.

• Creep: We hear this word first from Ronnie when he says, "I left her [Sammi] at the house to go creep on some girls at Karma." Then Snooki and Sammi use it too! You might think creep as a verb means exactly what it sounds like, and it does. But according to Urban Dictionary, it has more nuanced meanings: hitting on drunk women while sober or vice versa; sleeping with someone who's taken or hitting on someone while taken (cheating?); and hitting on much younger women. So, basically, anything creepy.

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Meet the biggest buzzword in the food world this minute: koodies. No, I'm not referring to the term we used prolifically as fourth graders; I'm talking about kid foodies. Food trend analyst Phil Lempert, also known as the Supermarket Guru, coined the term to refer to children with an "ardent or refined interest in food" or "an unusual, sometimes fanatic, desire to eat unusual foods."

The term may be brand-new, but the idea of kids with refined palates has been on the horizon for a while. Remember Greg Grossman, who catered in the Hamptons? Or David Fishman, who dined alone at 12? Let's not forget Julian Kreusser, the 5-year-old with a cooking show. They're all poster children for the term "koodie."

Do you have any koodies in your life? Do you respect their precocious appreciation for food — or do you find it to be obnoxious?

Modern slang has made its way into the fitness world, and if your vocabulary needs some pumping up, try adding these terms into your workout.

Hammies = Short for hamstrings — the muscles on the back of the thigh, as in "I'm going to go stretch my hammies."

Gun show = Muscular arms

Mirror Muscles = Muscles you see when you look in the mirror, namely pecs (chest muscles), deltoids, and biceps

Newbie = Someone new to the sport, or to the gym

Powerhouse = Core and sometimes core plus a booty squeeze

Resolutionaries = Folks that join the gym on New Year's Day and stick around for about a month

Spin head = Folks that wear full biking gear to spin class

Yogatude = Yogis with a competitive attitude about their spiritual practice

What is your favorite (or least favorite!) piece of gym or fitness slang?