The debate earlier this week about the proper use, intentional misuse, and abuse of the English language got me thinking about another fun aspect of this: phrases people use all the time that actually mean the exact opposite of, negate, or otherwise contradict the sentiment expressed by the words. Examples:
- Forgive me for saying
- With all due respect
- I really shouldn’t say this
- No offense/pun/irony intended
- Not for nothing, but
CF linguistic scholars should feel free to add more in the comments as and when they occur to you. I look forward to seeing what y’all reprobates come up with.
Democracy
Heh. I’m ashamed to admit it, but that one never even occurred to me.
I could be wrong…
Maybe they do things differently in _____…
Just between us…
And then there are the dreaded Women Phrases:
Fine.
Whatever.
Go right ahead.
Just you do what you think best.
The classic Government phrases:
We’re here to help…
The check is in the mail…
We’ll get back to you on that…
Thanks for your suggestion…
In the military, when you see things like this, you put up a triangular red sign that says “MINE”, and trod carefully around it.
Bless your/her/his heart.
I thought I was wrong once, but I was wrong about that.