At the time and decades later, media accounts perpetuated the notion that “like” sprang fully formed from the head of a Valley Girl, an archetype further popularized by the 1983 movie of that title, whose protagonist was known more for the clothes she wore than the stalking she experienced. (Her would-be suitor sneaks back into a home he’s been ejected from, failing to announce himself to the partygoers who cycle through the bathroom where, silent in the shower, he waited for her to appear.)