TLE: An American Epidemic

I was sitting on my couch the other day, after school, watching ESPN. Jim Rome was on and he was interviewing Michigan State Senior Guard Travis Walton. Now, I do not like Jim Rom because I think he is full of himself and very cocky. However, I decided to continue to watch his show because I am a State fan and I wanted to see what Walton had to say. As Rome and Walton were speaking, it occurred to me that young members of today's society have a speech impediment. In every single one of Walton's answers he used the phrase "ya know." He'd say something along the lines of "Ya know, I took that shot and made it, ya know." No I don't know. And while Travis Walton is a bright kid, saying "ya know" every five words makes him sound somewhat stupid.
This also takes place in every teenager across America. It is an epidemic that I have come to call the "Teenage Like Epidemic," or "T.L.E." Every high schooler has it, including me. It is a bad habit that I am trying to rid myself of. TLE most often kicks in when I am trying to describe something out loud. I have said thing similar to "In my first hour class today, we, like, did this activity where you do a lot of, ya know, like, umm, stretches and stuff." It makes me sound stupid. If I had said, "In my first hour yoga class today, we did a Pilate's workout followed by final relaxation," wouldn't it have sounded a lot better?

My dad loves to correct me of TLE. I'll be having a conversation with him and he will interrupt me and make me start over just because I said like. Sometimes I don't even notice I'm saying it because it has become such a bad habit for a very long time. I am a true believer that this happens to all teenage students because we say like so much.

But who is to fault for TLE? Schools, teachers, parents? Have they taught us wrong? No. It is in my opinion that TLE is a contagious infection passed down to kids by our American Athletes. If there is one flaw to them besides steroids it is their speech. Whenever I watch an athlete in a press conference, they always use "like," "umm," and "ya know." They could be describing their game winning shot or their spectacular catch in the outfield; no matter what it always kicks in to their system.TLE is a fault in American society that needs to be fixed. There is no antibiotic or pill for it, but as victims of TLE we need to realize the epidemic and work together to find a cure. You could do what I do and have your parents correct you and make you start your sentence over. It's not a big deal. TLE makes us teenagers sound less intelligent than we actually are. We are a smart group of citizens. Don't let TLE define who you are, stand up to it and defend yourself instead.