A Farewell to the word "Like."

Like has many uses in the English language. It used to express pleasurable association without the committment of using the word "love." "'What do you think of my brother?' Erin asked. Jesi replied, 'I like him.'" But, the real power of this word lies in it's ability to introduce a new topic by implying similarity to the one dsicussed before. "Bob Jones was a good man. He did blah, blah, blah. (New Paragraph.) Like his father, Fred Jones was a good man and he did blah blah blah." By connecting to two thoughts with 'like,' it's communicating that the similarities are what's significant. There are other ways of communicating it, but there is nothing so pure as an efficient word.

But, alas, efficiency usualy ends up in slang. "She said, 'Well, obviously there is only one choice.' And I was like, "Well, if there is only one choice, why'd you pretend there were two?'" It allows you to communicate the spirit of the conversation without having to quote word for word. However, it is used in an extremely informal environment. The problem is that this use, though it's informal nature has it's own qualities, marres the good name of the word 'like.' I was devasted when I discussed one of my essays with a writing assistant and he said I should never use the word 'like' because it sounded to colloquial. The sentence: "People began saying new controversial ideas were like “On the Revolutions” or, more easily stated, “Revolutionary.”" Perfectly good use of the word. (The sentence needed some reworking, but that is another blog.) But, I am supposed to throw this word out of my writing because it gives the impression of informality? What did like do wrong? And if we don't stand up for like, what other words will succumb to this injustice?