That these qualifiers are always bad is a pretty aggressive conclusion. A linguistic signal that you are about to disagree with someone is often useful as it ta

That these qualifiers are always bad is a pretty aggressive conclusion. A linguistic signal that you are about to disagree with someone is often useful as it takes the edge off a statement that would otherwise seem overly combative. However, this is probably highly cultural thing. I am British and I work in London. My German friend found it hard here at first because he would be too direct and people would perceive it as rude. He used to find it difficult to get people to do things for him and had to adjust the way he used the language. Having said that, it's true British people can take too long to get to the point :-)