I’m told by those who claim to know such things that the best campaign slogan in American presidential history was 1952’s “I like Ike.” It’s hard to disagree. For one thing, the words fit perfectly onto a campaign button or bumper sticker and make for an unusually sonorous phrase when spoken. But their effectiveness probably had more to do with that gentle and genial verb “like,” which not only rhymed with General Eisenhower’s famous nickname but captured the affable and nonideological appeal of the candidate. Supreme Allied Commander, overseer of the largest and most successful amphibious assault in military history: What’s not to like?
Anyway, there’s no denying that like is a versatile word. Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, suffix: It can do them all without breaking a sweat. And its meanings tend to have something pleasant in common. There is nearly always a mild gravitational pull at work in the word, an inclination toward togetherness either of affection or resemblance. I “like” you because you are “like” my brother. Like tends to be a token of sunny optimism and harmony, the byword of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Yet it is a respectable word that knows its limits and chastely observes them, eschewing the Sturm und Drang and ambiguous risks of its more passionate cousins.