Ever noticed certain idiosyncrasies that certain people have? Mannerisms that come to define them. I recently noticed another poster that uses the phrase “the thing is” so much, that I would support him changing his username to said phrase.
The thing is, it’s a completely useless phrase which could be eliminated from his posts and they would probably sound much more coherent.
I’m not going to divulge who it is…the thing is, you might could guess without a lot of help.
The thing is you’re nitpicking about someting trivial.
So, how that works is, he probably doesn’t even realize he’s doing it.
It’s a discourse marker. At one time they were thought by linguists to be irrelevant errors, but there are now whole theories surrounding their use and purpose. They are usually found in spoken language rather than written language, so the person who is using one in posts is writing as if he were speaking.
I went on an architectural tour a couple of weeks ago. The guide ended every sentence with “. . .and stuff like that.”
My husband’s discourse marker (thanks, SpoilerVirgin) is “the reality is…” The reality is that sometimes I have a hard time paying attention to what he’s saying because I’m counting discourse markers.
Is it me? I know I use that phrase.
And I feel it’s a useful phrase that isn’t mere fluffery. It’s a way of saying “here is the central point of my argument.”
Wow, thanks for the link. I know a couple of people whose use of particular discourse markers borders on compulsion; it’s nice to be able to put a name to the phenomenon.
OMG! My husband does that ALL the time. (He’s not a tour guide.) It makes me crazy.
Some things you just have to live with. My wife starts every discussion with “So. . .” Now I find myself doing it, as well.
“Let me put it this way…”
J.
‘…just sayin’
Exactly!
That’s What I’M Talkin’ 'Bout…!
The OP could well be talking about me because I know I overuse the phrase, particularly when I’m not writing well. I noticed to my embarrassment that I had used the phrase twice in one short post, a week or two back.
I don’t know that I’d agree that “the thing is” is a discourse marker. It can be just a discourse marker, but I agree with this:
I also use it (and hear it used) to indicate that, while I’ve heard all the counterpoints etc, there is an unavoidable threshold issue that is being overlooked. As in “I’ve heard all your reasons why we should be able to fly by flapping our arms, but the thing is, we can’t.”
IME some people take phrases that can be used meaningfully, and for one reason or another start to use them habitually or without understanding what their original meaning might be. At which point, the phrase becomes a “mere” discourse marker, at least for that speaker.
My last insurance agent used the phrase ‘turn around’. “So, in that case, you’d call me, then I’d turn around and call the company and they’d give you a call and a few weeks later they’d turn around and write you a check. On the other hand, if it was your fault, you’d turn around and give me a call and I’d turn around call the other party…” It drove me up the wall*, I got into the habit of counting how many times he’d say it. It was usually something like 10 or 12 times in a 15 minute visit to his office.
*I always called these things ‘catch phases’. When people say things A LOT, like more than 5 times a day they start to get on my nerves. I have an employee at work that usually has three or four of them going at once, usually at least one of them that he’s using wrong (i.e. ‘touche’ in place of ‘I know’ or OK). It’s really bad when starts using them so much that I have to say ‘knock it off so I can talk, you’re interrupting me’.
Well, at least, I got the forum right.
To be fair, I knew that stuff, but the reality is…uh lemme put it this way, I turned round to reply and you turned round and…sigh
At the end of the day, what’s the bottom line, can you just sum it up and get to the nitty gritty, we’d all like to get home tonight.
I, literally, could care less.