The linguist J.L. Austin, in his marvelous little book “Sense and Sensibilia” (posthumously published in 1962), memorably discussed the value of “like.” It is, he wrote, “the great adjuster-word, or, alternatively put, the main flexibility-device by whose aid, in spite of the limited scope of our vocabulary, we can always avoid being left completely speechless.”

Austin was describing the ordinary use of “like”: to draw attention to similarities. But his concept of adjuster-words nicely suggests what the improper use of “like” sometimes does well: it alerts the hearer or reader to imprecision. It announces surmise or approximation. Hence when my learned friend told me that “there were like 50 people” at an event, I knew he meant somewhere between 40 and 60. “Like” works for estimations, not factual statements. Correct: “Like six million people live in Washington.” Incorrect: “The Marine Corps is, like, a branch of the Navy.”

A variation on this approximating use might also be acceptable: “There’s, like, an adolescent arrogance about his attitude that doesn’t suit the office.” The speaker isn’t absolutely sure “adolescent arrogance” is the right term, so he uses “like” to tell you that he may be slightly misstating the case but that something “like” that is true. As with any other grammatically acceptable usage, you could wear out this one: It would still be wrong to pepper your speech with “like” because you’re too lazy to formulate a statement you can stand by without equivocation.