One of my newest pet peeves is the overuse of the word "actually". Too many people use it period. It's one of those words that can be removed from the English language without too much lost. In the vast majority of instances it can be simply be removed from the sentence and not change the meaning of the sentence.
This pet peeve crept up on me slowly. I noticed its overuse a few times, however it was not until I started to proof read a friend's thesis did I really begin to hate the word. He wrote it way too much (once is too much in a formal thesis)...so I started to edit it out...ruthlessly I had some control within the thesis, a bit less control in everyone else's everyday vocabulary.
Take the next few days to notice how many people use it and use it many times...often more than once in the same sentence. For the sake of my sanity help me rid the earth of the word "actually".
1 comment:
Hey there. I feel your pain about the written thing - over-using any word in written document, especially an academic document, is inexcusable when you have the advantages of time and a backspace key.
However, on the topic of the verbal over-use of the word, I'm a little less inclined to agree with you, if only because I was convinced a long time ago by an excellent professor of language and literature that language does change. Changes in language, while they may seem irritating are, really, neutral and organic.
The professor used the example of the word "like" (which, as those of us who grew up in the 80's know, came out of so-called "valley girl" speak) actually has a function in speech. The role "like" plays is to smooth transitions thereby making the rhythm of speech flow more smoothly.
I suspect "actually" works in a similar way.
End of grammar lesson.
--red
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