In Mega Man Zero 4, one of my favorite games, when the boss Sol Titanion uses
her Red Flame Fans attack, she shouts "Mitai na!", as you can see here at 4:30
(<https://youtu.be/i7O6F3LOqM0?t=270>). In the English Mega Man Zero Official
Complete Works, which translated the boss quotes of the series, [it was
translated
as](https://megaman.fandom.com/wiki/Sol_Titanion#Audio_and_Battle_Lines)
"Like, totally!", which is a common filler American English phrase.

I know that "みたいな" (Mitai na) can be used the way the English word "like" is
when comparing things by appearance. "The long-haired, unshaven criminal
looked like a barbarian" for example. But now I'm wondering if it can also be
used the way "like" is in English as a filler word in slangy speech? "That
movie was, like, totally lame!"
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T16:33:47.917
88797
2021-08-07T01:04:23.447
45645
question
slang
Is " みたいな" a filler phrase?
This みたいな is known as a slangy phrase used by stereotypical
[ギャル](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyaru) around the 90s. Basically it is
used _at the end of a sentence_ to add a mood of "kinda", "maybe" or
"something like that", but it is sometimes used almost meaninglessly, too:

>   * 学校休んじゃったーみたいなー。
>   * チョー楽しかったみたいなー！
>

This boss uses it as if it's an independent interjection, but this is because
she is depicted as a heavily exaggerated ギャル. Normally, you cannot start a
sentence with みたいな or use みたいな as a meaningless filler.

Typical filler words used by ギャル include
[てゆっか](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/85967/5010) and なんか.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T00:04:43.950
88804
2021-08-07T01:04:23.447
2021-08-07T01:04:23.447
5010
5010
88797
answer