Is Absolutely the new Basically?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

In almost every panel/cookery/discussion show I've watched of late, everybody has said "ABSOLUTELY!" very emphatically at least once.

It seems to have replaced "yes", and is almost as widely used as BASICALLY was a few years ago.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

Absolutely!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:13 (nineteen years ago)

My friend says "effectively" a lot. That's strange.

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

Hrmmm. I think there are slight shades of semantics at work here. "Basically" means "Ok, there's some quibble and debate possible, but without getting into it, yes" while "Absolutely" means "you would have to be a FULE to quibble about this!"

Also, lovely to see you, Rumpie!

― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:14 (nineteen years ago)

Hello!

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:19 (nineteen years ago)

I caught myself the other day inserting the word 'literally' into every sentence. Literally every sentence. It was very disconcerting.

― Daniel Giraffe (Daniel Giraffe), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

I like "essentially" too.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:41 (nineteen years ago)

srsly

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:43 (nineteen years ago)

"plz 2" is the new everything.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:44 (nineteen years ago)

"i love plz2"

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:48 (nineteen years ago)

"Apparently" is one I use far too much. 'Though now that you mention it, I think I do "absolutely" a lot as well.

― g00blar (gooblar), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:58 (nineteen years ago)

i find saying "[literally anything] is for peasants," or, alternately, "[whatever] is a bourgeois construction" is a really great way to impress people without having to get to know them, etc.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

Onbviously gets on my tits. It's used by customer service cockfarmers (cf 'well obviously, we're working hard for your satisfaction and obviously, that means that we can't help you at all') and middle managers. It's usually used to convey the exact opposite of obviousness, obviously.

― Dave B (daveb), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

XP: Yes that reminds me of a friend who once said, "Eating is for peasants." Ho ho ho.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:30 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i've yet to find anything that can't be quickly explained and filed away by one of those two. obviously, it helps to look bored when tendering your decisions.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

Yes again, you must always present as impeccably dry and droll, while smoke rises from the cigarette in your languid hand.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

Indubitebly

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

Actually, 'obviously' is what you the customer should deploy at customer 'service' cockfarmers at every opportunity.

Where I work, everything is "amazing". When it is not "fabulous".

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

"work" is a borgeois construction. it is also for peasants.

*takes a drag*

next?

(I'll stop now)

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

My colleague used to say "literally" at least once a sentence, and I apparently used to say "ferocious" and "indeed" far too often, so we made up a list of proscribed words and charged each other 20p each time we said one. Everyone in the office had at least three individual listed words, and there were a handful more that no one was allowed to use (swear words, and stuff like "paradigm").

We made a few quid, which we spent on biscuits, and now none of us EVER say those words anymore. So no more biscuits.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of speaking of peasants, where's Antexit? This is his act I'm poaching, after all.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

i ALWAYS say "i believe so" when i'm supposedly replying in the affirmative. i'm sure everyone has picked up on it and they all giggle like a bunch of cunts about it when i'm not around, but i'm the crafty motherfucker that's got all the bases covered should it turn out i was incorrect - after all, i didn't say "YES", i said "i believe so". so suck mah balls.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Sick, we did a similar thing around here - one of our accountants was banned from saying "theoretically" which covered him in situations where the actual balance didn't tally.

I don't think I had a word I wasn't allowed to say. I don't speak around here often enough to have a catchphrase. :-(

― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

i think the phrase i say most often is "why 2 haet teh_kit?" though.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

yes, provisionally

― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

i have a friend who says "hugely" wayyyy too much. it's like a tick. everything is "hugely" this or that. buhhhh.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

I had a landlord once who overused the word 'obviously', and would say things like 'we'll obviously have to charge you for this' when there was nothing remotely obvious about it - he was just being a wanker.

On the subject of this word, when I lived in the Czech Republic I noticed that footballers over there seemed to start every sentence with the word samozrejme, which obviously means obviously.

― Daniel Giraffe (Daniel Giraffe), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

I find myself saying "that's okay" to mean "that's not okay" a lot when my son asks permission to do something. "Can I watch another tv show?" "That's okay, we're turning off the tv now" I don't know why/how this happened.

― Maria :D (Maria D.), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.80stees.com/images/products/Office_Space_Um-Tee-shirt.jpg

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 14:45 (nineteen years ago)

instead of a simple "no" i often say "ABSOLUTELY.. not". wot a cunt

― Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

i say TODALLAY.

or, less often nowadays, BLAYTANTLEE.

― benrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

I say "exactly" all the time when I'm agreeing with someone. And my mother-in-law, who isn't a native English speaker, starts every sentence with "Actually" -- it took me ages to figure out she wasn't contradicting me, it was just a verbal tic, but for a while my hackles were up all the time.

― surfer_stone_rosa (surfer_stone_rosa), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

Apparently I also say "all the time" all the time.

― surfer_stone_rosa (surfer_stone_rosa), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

again, there's nothing more annoying than starting with an "again" whose referent is completely murky, if traceable at all. and again, i used to do this all the time ...

― literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

i am also a big fan of the "perhaps inevitably" oxymoron.

― literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Huh, I was actually thinking the other day about how I say "absolutely" quite often, especially when dealing with, I dunno, grocery-store cashiers and the like.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 19:03 (nineteen years ago)

Precisely!

― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

I like 'Correct!', especially when said in a European accent.

― rattusnorvegicus (ratty!!), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

i overuse actually more than any other word, but absolutely gets a workout. as does excellent (but not in monty burns style)

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 02:34 (nineteen years ago)

Word.

Touche!

― brooke steeves (LucyIsHipHop), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:11 (nineteen years ago)

i say absolutely too much, i don't know why. i need to recondition myself to just say "sure." or maybe "sure thing." sure thing, chief!

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:55 (nineteen years ago)

my excessive words to punctuate a conversation:
- anyway
- exactly
- i know
- apparently
- definitely

when at work:
- sure
- no worries
- you're welcome

in essays:
- effectively
- essentially
- inherently
- necessarily
- inextricably
- interrelated
- therefore

― salexandra (salexander), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 06:08 (nineteen years ago)

http://kino-express.ru/pics/balboa/rocky6_11.jpg

― slugbuggy (slugbuggy), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 06:20 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going to start saying "very much so" and "affirmative".

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 07:11 (nineteen years ago)

Whatever happened to Exactly?

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 07:28 (nineteen years ago)

Where I work, everything is "amazing". When it is not "fabulous".

Where I work, everything is "a bloody nightmare". When it is not "a shambles".

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 09:15 (nineteen years ago)

Actually one of my bosses actually says 'actually' in every actual sentence he actually speaks. He actually doesn't actually realise that the word 'actually' could be actually removed from every sentence he actually speaks without actually changing the meaning of what he actually says.

As for me, I certainly use 'certainly' too often.

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 10:45 (nineteen years ago)

AT THE END OF THE DAY PEOPLE

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 10:46 (nineteen years ago)

woman in my office says

TO BE HONEST

every three words.

― benrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.