"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."

That famous advertising slogan, created by the William Esty agency in 1954, ignited a linguistic controversy that's still smoldering.

"Like," say the smoke-free puritans of good grammar, should never be used as a substitute for the conjunction "as" or "as if." They insist the slogan should read, "Winston tastes good as a cigarette should."

In fact, a class-action suit filed against R. J. Reynolds last year awarded $206 billion to people who claimed this jingle had left them permanently addicted to bad usage, not to mention cigarettes. And, yes, I just made that up, but, in our litigious society, it's not inconceivable, right?

OK, so the rules say we should never use "like" before a clause, i.e., a group of words containing both a subject and a verb. So, it's fine to say, "Fran Drescher laughs like me" because here "like" is a preposition followed by the object "me."

But it's wrong to say "Fran Drescher laughs like I do" because here "like" is a conjunction connecting two clauses. (And if you laugh like Fran Drescher, bad usage is only one of your problems.)

But it's not like we always follow this rule. As if! In casual speech, and especially in song lyrics, we violate it all the time. "Let's twist again, as we did last summer" just doesn't have the same, well, twist.

In fact, "like" has been well established as a conjunction in English for over 600 years. When William Shakespeare wrote that a character arrived "like an arrow from a well-experienced archer hits the mark," no one quivered. (Fortunately, the Bard had the good sense not to title one of his plays "Like You Like It.")

It wasn't until the mid-1800s that the high llamas of language started condemning the use of "like" as a conjunction. But these days many experts say this usage is often acceptable because it prevents confusion.

For instance, if King Charles said, "Camilla Parker bowls as I bowl," would he mean that Camilla bowls in the same way he bowls, or that Camilla bowls at the same time he bowls? (If it's the latter, I have a hunch Camilla often reminds him to stay in his own lane.)

But what should we commoners do?

While using "like" as a conjunction might raise cigarette sales, it's also likely to raise eyebrows. So, it's best to avoid this construction in formal writing. But in casual speech or writing, feel free to tell it "like" it is.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254.

Photo credit: NoName_13 at Pixabay