This 1950 Chevy truck infomercial includes a familiar word that I haven’t heard since leaving Oklahoma.
Mr Wayne Slocum, head of an oilfield service company in OKC, is comparing the new Chevy to his “other brand” trucks. Wayne’s voice and dialect are a perfect specimen of the Eastern Okie sound, often heard in OKC but not heard in Enid. Enid was part of the High Plains, more closely linked to Denver and Wichita than to OKC.
At 3:50 Wayne says:
On the trip, the other truck liked just seven gallons of using twice as much gas as the Chevrolet.
This usage of like is a specific part of the dialect.
I worked in an OKC print shop where most of the employees sounded like Wayne. When Edith needed to know who could take on a rush job first, she asked each of us How many do you like? If Chet had run 750 of a 1000-count job, he would answer I like 250.
Standard English wouldn’t use lack for this purpose. Wayne might say The other truck used seven gallons short of twice as much as the Chevy. Edith might ask How close are you to done?
Polistra's Mill 