"Like" instead of "as if"

Yes Wheniwasyourage, weather forecasters seem particularly prone to these peccadilloes.
I find myself listening to them and being more alert to their grammatical errors than to the actual forecast.

Oh I do love Pedants' corner! Weather forecasters use "the likes of" too, and then list all the places they are talking about instead of just a few examples!

Vulgar or slovenly - great! I must remember that as a useful term of abuse

Me too Mishap. I was taught that 'like' should never be used as a conjunction, but there is controversy about it.
I found this little gem:

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that examples of the use of like as a conjunction do appear in the works of “many recent writers of standing” but also points out that such use is “generally condemned as vulgar or slovenly......”

What other words could convey such condemnation - vulgar or slovenly

Another, related usage which grates with me is 'the likes of'.
I actually heard someone on Radio 4 the other day, referring to an actor who had died, say that the person had worked with 'the likes of' Laurence Olivier and Timothy West

Yes, it drives me wild too. My DC are fed up with having me shouting "as if" at them when they do it, and at least it makes them think a bit (I hope). I think I inherited it from my mother, so I'm hoping that it will eventually move down the generations and that I will one day hear the DC shouting "as if" at the DGC