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One of my (language) pet peeves is when someone opens with 'Honestly, ...' When it's appropriate I suggest to them that everything they say without that prefix
by Jedd 11y ago
One of my (language) pet peeves is when someone opens with 'Honestly, ...'
When it's appropriate I suggest to them that everything they say without that prefix might therefore be assumed to be otherwise. I suggest 'Candidly' or 'Frankly' if they mean they're about to be blunt. Or just avoid any kind of qualification entirely. Usually I'm ignored, of course.
But this is a particularly unpleasant arrangement of words -- an inherent and obvious contradiction, whereby independence of bias is claimed in spite of, and in conjunction with, proof of bias.
I wonder at the kinds of readers (of reviews or otherwise) who find comfort in such a disclaimer.
- verroq 11y agotbh smh fam
- ghusbands 11y agoIt's a common idiom indicating straightforwardness. It does not imply a dishonesty in other sentences.
- Jedd 11y agoThere's lots of words that mean straightforward (to be frank / blunt / candid / brutal / clear / straightforward / abrupt / etc) but honesty is something else entirely. The comparable phrase 'To tell the truth, ...' is even less ambiguous (yes, it's idiomatic, but that shouldn't let you ignore semantics). As for amazon reviews I rarely expect people to be especially honest -- if they self-assess as being extra honest despite swag, that's less compelling.