 A
word that seems to have become in recent decades merely a pretentious form
of attention-holder, a habitual utterance intended to afford thinking time
to the speaker without relinquishing conversational control to the listener(s).
As my brother Alan puts it...
I have found 'basically' to be irritating, over-used, misused, and as mindless as 'dum' in the phrase, “and dum.”What makes 'basically’ pretentious, I think, is the way it tinctures the speaker's words with condescension, as if to say, “I can be more basic [more general, more worthy] than you." Finally, its protracted pronunciation as "bay-sick-all-lee" by some people makes the word all the more unlikeable. |