I was very fond of the word "like" as well when I was in middle school, my mom used to count the amount of times I would use it when talking helped me kick the habit of saying it so much.
With regards to the dude years, the word dude was def. a very popular word on my college campus, I just remember hearing hey dude, whats up dude, later dude, oh duuuude ! and the classic.....dude where's my car ![Smile [:)]](/Reeve/emoticons/emotion-1.gif)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dude
"Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit... Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad"