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Friday, 23 September 2011

On the list of overused and irritating words of 2011

Posted on 00:30 by john mickal


“Actually” made the cut.

This actually made me wince.

Because I use “actually” all the time, actually. Actually, I drop “actually” as a punctuation mark. It’s the equivalent of an em dash -- oh yes, I'm about to say something witty.

No, I don't mean now. I mean when I say "actually."

Actually, “actually” is a wink, with my left eye, the cute one -- the one that can also raise an eyebrow, after years of practice.

For god sakes, if they’re going to bully any word, how about “hopefully,” as in “hopefully we will …” How about the “and” in between century dates, as in 2 thousand “and” 11. Because both of those are equally, actually wrong. Whereas “actually” has party manners -- never grammatically wrong, just waving its fan, biding its time. Ready to say in one word what usually takes two or four times as many. “In reality”, or “The way I see it,” or “From my point of view."

Strip “actually” from my arsenal, and there will be unpleasant consequences. For real. When all is said and done. At the end of the day. I kid you not.

Oh yes, the photo. It has nothing to do with any of this. I just liked it. No shit.
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