like

like: sostantivo numerabile

 

Ronaldo has most Facebook likes after going ahead of Shakira.

Running contests & offering free content that is revealed by a Like are great ways to incentivize someone Liking your page.

 

Fino a qualche anno fa, il sostantivo like ricorreva solo in frasi fisse tipo: like with like, likes and dislikes, I’ve never seen/heard the like, someone’s (or something’s) like, and the like:

 

You must be careful to ensure you are comparing like with like.

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.

The first thing that you need to do when you are talking to a girl is to find out what her likes and dislikes are.

In many European countries, local governments have banned board shorts, bermudas and the like in municipal swimming pools.

 

L’uso di like come un comune sostantivo deve la sua esistenza a Facebook e altri social network, che invitano gli utenti a indicare il proprio gradimento di post, foto, commenti, pagine ecc. cliccando su un apposito link o su un’icona. Dall’esprimere in tal modo il gradimento a contare il numero di ‘mi piace’ il passo è breve e probabilmente anche inevitabile, in un’epoca come la nostra in cui si chiede l’approvazione pubblica immediata per qualunque cosa, dalle foto delle vacanze ai video musicali.

 

Origini del termine

 

Like è un esempio di nouning, o sostantivazione, cioè l’usare un’altra parte del discorso in funzione di sostantivo, e rappresenta uno dei modi più comuni di formazione delle parole in inglese.

like: countable noun

 

Ronaldo has most Facebook likes after going ahead of Shakira.

Running contests & offering free content that is revealed by a Like are great ways to incentivize someone Liking your page.

 

Until comparatively recently, the noun like was found only in fixed phrases: like with like, likes and dislikes, I’ve never seen/heard the like, someone’s (or something’s) like, and the like:

 

You must be careful to ensure you are comparing like with like.

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.

The first thing that you need to do when you are talking to a girl is to find out what her likes and dislikes are.

In many European countries, local governments have banned board shorts, bermudas and the like in municipal swimming pools.

 

The use of like as an ordinary countable noun owes its existence to Facebook and other social media, which invite users to show approval of posts, photos, comments, pages and so on by clicking an appropriate link or icon. From liking a post in this sense to counting the number of likes it has attracted was a short step, and an inevitable one in an age where immediate public approval is sought for everything from holiday snaps to music videos. Indeed, there is a flourishing industry based on the provision of additional likes for those who are failing to garner them spontaneously.

 

Origins

 

Like is an example of nouning, the process by which a verb sense becomes a sense of a noun. As such it represents one of the most common ways for new words and meanings to be formed in English.

WordWatch è l'osservatorio sui neologismi della lingua inglese curato dalla redazione del dizionario Ragazzini.

A cura di Liz Potter