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Categorically useless phrases?
The use of the word "categorically" has been one of the most useless and lamest coined by American politicians.
When a politician or govt official or CNN says,
I "categorically deny" this has ever happened.
The White House made a "categorical statement" over the affair.
???!!!
What value does "categorically" add to the sentence besides bombasticism? It does not add any further meaning to the word "deny".
The only proper way to use the word "categorically" is
I arranged the CDs/books/email categorically.
To "categorically deny" would mean that the denying person has come up with a categorised list of reasons. A politician or official can't just make a "categorical statement" because categorical requires a list of categorised statements.
Don't you agree?
1 Answer
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
However, people want and language always provides what might be called intensifiers. Inflection does this. Gestures do this. Double negatives do this. "I swear on a stack of Bibles" does this. Categorically means, Hey, I'm not leaving myself any wiggle room; I really really mean it; some people might tell white lies but not me! A person who uses this word while lying will seem even more dishonest and corrupt than a liar who doesn't use it.