One of the seminars I went to this week was on innovation in London English. One interesting point noticed by the researchers was the range of quotatives being used. Quotatives are words and expressions used to introduce reported speech, including “I said” and “she went”.

The most common quotative among young Londoners is “be like”, as in “I was like”, “he was like”, etc. This expression is used with reported speech, and also with sounds and facial expressions indicating different moods and attitudes. There are apparently equivalents of it in many other languages.

A new quotative they found being used in London was “This is me” / “This was me”. I haven’t heard this being used anywhere, have you?

How do you introduce reported speech?