Awesome idea: McCullough urges BC grads to speak properly

NEWTON, Mass.—Pulitzer prize winning author David McCullough has a suggestion for what young people can do for their country.

"Please, please do what you can to cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation," McCullough implored Boston College's class of 2008 at commencement ceremonies Monday.

He said he's particularly troubled by the "relentless, wearisome use of words" such as like, awesome and actually.

"Just imagine if in his inaugural address John F. Kennedy had said, 'Ask not what your country can, you know, do for you, but what you can, like, do for your country actually," he said.

Graduates apparently thought his speech was, like, awesome. They gave him a standing ovation.