The downside of obvious
Just airing a personal peeve here. Many people use the word “obvious” too liberally. If it really is obvious, then there’s no need to point that out (obviously). If it isn’t obvious, then saying that it is will likely not have the effect of making you look smart, but rather have the effect of irking the person you’re talking to.
But all that kinda makes it sound like there’s not an obvious time to use the word, doesn’t it? It might not be obvious to everyone, but sometimes you can hedge a bit when you use the word rather than simply declaring something obvious.
Good luck to all of us when using the word obvious. Some of us obviously need it.
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7 opinions for The downside of obvious
Lisa Haneberg
May 3, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Well, that’s better than being oblivious to the obvious.
Eduardo
May 4, 2007 at 5:42 am
that’s about as obvious as common sense!
Truthteller site
http://www.reddeerblog.com
Ken Flowers
May 4, 2007 at 8:12 am
My favorite is “With all due respect …”
Brandon Wilhite
May 4, 2007 at 9:43 am
How about the ever annoying “well, if you think about it …”
herringland
May 4, 2007 at 6:31 pm
To be honest, I’ve been accused of saying to be honest. Obviously, this is a huge problem for me.
My old boss used to catch me every time I said “To be honest…” He used to say to me, “I’m glad you’re being honest. What are you doing when you don’t say ‘To be honest’.”
Alex
May 6, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Great post. Actually you open my eyes on some useful things.
Thank you.
Bill
May 7, 2007 at 10:24 am
Let’s throw “literally” in there as well.