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Sick of "Absolutely"

Admiral Beez

Admiral Beez

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Is anyone else noticing that "absolutely" is replacing "yes" as the standard affirmative in conversation?

Just yesterday, I was in line at Subway and the girl behind the counter asked someone in line if they wanted their sandwich toasted. The response; not "yes" but "absolutely". On Friday I asked a colleague if they were going to a meeting, and they responded "absolutely".

When the heck did this happen? This does not make grammatically sense to me, as "absolutely" is not an affirmative statement, is instead an adverb that is correctly used to intensify a position on or about something. For example, if you're damn certain you want your sandwich toasted, the correct usually would be "absolutely yes".

So, the next time someone replies to your query with "absolutely", make sure to ask in reply "absolutely what?"

Anyway, maybe it's just me, but I am absolutely sick of absolutely being used in a non intensifier manner.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Is anyone else noticing that "absolutely" is replacing "yes" as the standard affirmative in conversation?

Just yesterday, I was in line at Subway and the girl behind the counter asked someone in line if they wanted their sandwich toasted. The response; not "yes" but "absolutely". On Friday I asked a colleague if they were going to a meeting, and they responded "absolutely".

When the heck did this happen? This does not make grammatically sense to me, as "absolutely" is not an affirmative statement, is instead an adverb that is correctly used to intensify a position on or about something. For example, if you're damn certain you want your sandwich toasted, the correct usually would be "absolutely yes".

So, the next time someone replies to your query with "absolutely", make sure to ask in reply "absolutely what?"

Anyway, maybe it's just me, but I am absolutely sick of absolutely being used in a non intensifier manner.
Click to expand...

Word.
 
I hear it a lot too. The word that bothers me even more is "literally". "I was literally making dinner when the phone rang". Worse, is it's incorrect use in the media and by talking heads.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Is anyone else noticing that "absolutely" is replacing "yes" as the standard affirmative in conversation?

Just yesterday, I was in line at Subway and the girl behind the counter asked someone in line if they wanted their sandwich toasted. The response; not "yes" but "absolutely". On Friday I asked a colleague if they were going to a meeting, and they responded "absolutely".

When the heck did this happen? This does not make grammatically sense to me, as "absolutely" is not an affirmative statement, is instead an adverb that is correctly used to intensify a position on or about something. For example, if you're damn certain you want your sandwich toasted, the correct usually would be "absolutely yes".

So, the next time someone replies to your query with "absolutely", make sure to ask in reply "absolutely what?"

Anyway, maybe it's just me, but I am absolutely sick of absolutely being used in a non intensifier manner.
Click to expand...

You must really hate the name, Absolute World, that was chosen for the Mississauga twin towers?
 
Anything is better than "Like". I hate hearing that when young people are talking. It appears at least once in every sentence.
 
dt_toronto_geek said:
I hear it a lot too. The word that bothers me even more is "literally". "I was literally making dinner when the phone rang". Worse, is it's incorrect use in the media and by talking heads.
Click to expand...
Another good one.

What drives me nuts is how these useless words stretch the time needed to convey a point. What does "literally" or "absolutely" add exactly to a point that doesn't need an intensifier? And what function does "like" serve in a sentence?

One of my best mates is Chinese and he tells me that their language (IIRC, his is Cantonese, not Mandarin) is much more efficient, allowing many more points to be made in quick succession. There might be something to that. Imagine if your girlfriend could make a point in under ten seconds instead of two minutes, blissful silence....
 
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How about the politicians' favourite "going forward". As if they had to distinguish between going forward from backward or maybe sideways.
 
Absolutely is just a more emphatic way of saying "yes", so it's not hard to see why it's entered everyday friendly conversation.

Next!
 
SP!RE said:
Absolutely is just a more emphatic way of saying "yes", so it's not hard to see why it's entered everyday friendly conversation.
Click to expand...
But it's not synonymous with "yes". A more emphatic way of saying "yes" is "absolutely yes".

But, I'll admit that language is never static, so perhaps you're right, and Absolutely has become just a more emphatic way of saying "yes".

However, why do we need to emphasize the affirmative when considering trivial things? My example above at Subway for example, the staffer asked if she wanted her sandwich toasted and was clearly understood by the customer. not requiring any clarification. Under what circumstances does the affirmative to this need emphasis?

If in doubt, here's some guidance, https://www.dailywritingtips.com/absolutely/
 
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