Author criticizes imprecise speech and junk food littering
11 reported
Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, wrote a commentary published in The Guardian on June 13, 2026, expressing irritation with litter from junk food outlets thrown from car windows in the Norfolk countryside. He also criticized what he described as a fashion for imprecise and redundant speech, particularly the frequent use of the word “like” as a grammatical filler. De Bernières stated he inherited this dislike from his father, who was disdainful of transatlantic accents and vocabulary from the 1960s and 1970s. He noted that he had a classical humanist education in which he was taught how to construct sentences and link them into coherent trains of thought. He recounted an experience speaking to a sixth-form group where a young woman used “like” so much that it took her five minutes to say something that should have taken five seconds. De Bernières also mentioned that he can no longer listen to Radio 4, saying it has been rejigged for younger people who use “like,” and he wondered whether this “junk speech” has any connection with junk food consumption and rural littering.
What’s reported
Louis de Bernières lives in the Norfolk countryside and is irritated by litter from junk food outlets thrown from car windows.
He stated he never eats junk food and never throws litter out of his window.
He criticized the fashion for imprecise and redundant speech, especially the word “like.”
He said he inherited this dislike from his father, who was disdainful of transatlantic accents and 1960s-1970s vocabulary.
He had a classical humanist education where he was taught how to construct sentences and link them into coherent trains of thought.
He described an encounter with a sixth-form student who used “like” so much that it took her five minutes to say something that should have taken five seconds.
He said he can no longer listen to Radio 4 because it has been rejigged for younger people who say “like.”
He wondered whether “junk speech” has any connection with junk food consumption and rural littering.
He invented the Greek-derived word “misosaskopeslexis” to mean hatred of pointless words.
He noted that “Mardle” is the dialect of Norfolk.
His fourth novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, became a worldwide bestseller in 1994.
Key figures
Louis de Bernières – author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, commentator
Sources: The Guardian
