Is the valley girl's use of the word "like" similar to the role played by the prefix "al" in Arabic? Though "al" is a fixture of that Semitic language and is variable in morphology according to what sound follows it, both "like" and "al" in their respective language/dialects are ubiquitous and somewhat variable in meaning. Or I could, like, being talking a bunch of hot air.

      While oftentimes the issues of Black Belt range from corny to downright misleading, every once in a while there is a real gem. For example, the cover article for this month is a discussion of kali tudo, or kali as applied to mixed martial arts (one of the reasons I particularly like kali is because, as is illustrated so well in the article, it shares a particular kind of angular footwork with the martial arts at the Ko Sho schools). Similarly, there is an article which initially put me off as a jargon-based martial art (that is, one that makes up polysyllabic terms for simple techniques as a marketing gimmick), but the ISR Matrix stuff actually had some decent variations on jujitsu techniques that were immediately useful in class.
      And though I consistently disagree with him, Bill Wallace's column provides some talking points. If anyone happens to read it, I think he left out shin-roundkicks, in terms of his discussion instep roundkicks are more dangerous than ball-of-the-foot roundkicks on the basis that the latter are not done in the same way as the former, as he assumes they are, and I don't think that sidekicks are inherently bad for the body if one turns their hip over enough or with proper conditioning, and I think that they shouldn't ever be done with the blade of the foot.
      And, I liked the fight highlights that mentioned a TKO by spinning back-kick (I thought no one used those effectively except Cung Le) and a judoka who didn't get his ass knocked out and actually "controlled and took his opponent down at will."

Phrase of the Day (from the Swahili): kufa ku-zuri - to die beautifully