In the past couple of years, I noticed two things, almost simultaneously.
- It bugs me when people say “right?” at the end of their sentence, as if they are assuming I agree with them without actually asking me if I do.
- I use “right?” in exactly this way.
It’s a verbal tic I picked up along the way somewhere, and I notice it particularly when I listen to myself being interviewed on podcasts. I get excited, and in my answers, I drop a “right?” here and there. As I dig into where this comes from, I feel like I’m saying something I hope the listener recognizes, and that we’re both coming from this common ground, and the “right?” marks the spot. Then, I’ll build on that common ground with my next point.
All my good intentions don’t really mean anything, though, when in the end the “right?” just sounds like a throwaway word that’s a little condescending.
I’m being interviewed for another podcast next week, and I’m going to actively work on eliminating “right?” from my responses. I’ll let you know how it goes!
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