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5:45PM
Feb-03-12
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LovelyStatic
| | Pittsburgh, PA | |
| New Member | posts 1 | |
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what is the deal with this phrase? A coworker of mine utters this several times a day it irks me to no end I consider it verbal filler the same as "like" and "um" and is almost as irksome as "irregardless".
why do people say this? anyone?
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6:38PM
Feb-03-12
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Heimhenge
| | New River, AZ, USA | |
| Member | posts 312 | |
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Post edited 6:40PM – Feb-03-12 by Heimhenge
Welcome to the forum!
The phrase "that being said" does have its place, as when the following assertion follows from, or requires, the preceding. It's synonymous with "thus" or "ergo" or "therefore" or "consequently."
But I do agree it's overused these days, and is more often used as "filler," when the speaker needs time to select the right words.
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6:54PM
Feb-03-12
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anniehague
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I think people say it (sometimes) to excuse what they have just said because what they have just said may contain some opinionated snark that might/could raise an eyebrow. The phrase can reek of some kind of odd self-importance. The public domain nature of this tiresome vocabulary filler, and possible verbal tic, that has become epidemic raises the puke reflex in me, too. That being said and at the end of the day, the bottom line is you can take all of the low hanging fruit and ultimately, we can move forward in our upaced and dynamic work environments.
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11:32PM
Feb-03-12
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tromboniator
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| Member | posts 215 | |
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Amen. As shown by our recent track record.
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1:43PM
Feb-04-12
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Bob Bridges
| | USA | |
| Member | posts 395 | |
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I'm with everyone here about overuse, and of course other phrases can be overused the same way. I had a boss who could be counted on to say "in terms of" at least once every other sentence: "What progress have we made in terms of project A?" "Roxanne called; they're unhappy in terms of the the plan we laid out for them." As you say, it became clear that in his case it was a phrase that gave him time to think about whatever he was going to say next.
Heimhenge, I don't usually hear "that being said" to indicate that what follows from what preceded, but rather the reverse. "I usually prefer reason over emotion; that being said, in this case I think it's better to…" "The population is well within the limit; that being said, perhaps we should wait a bit longer." It seems to me that "that being said…" means something more like "nevertheless" or "notwithstanding".
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9:43AM
Feb-05-12
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Heimhenge
| | New River, AZ, USA | |
| Member | posts 312 | |
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Post edited 9:44AM – Feb-05-12 by Heimhenge
Excellent point Bob. Now that I think about it, I believe "that being said" can work either way (X implies Y or X is implied by Y). Can't argue with your examples.
Here's an example that (I believe) clearly supports my original contention: Our country has fought wars over oil. That being said, we should focus more on domestic renewable energy.
Of course, one could rewrite that w/o the "that being said" and it would be better writing, imho. But that just gets us back to the original point of this thread … how certain phrases are overused, and just plain sloppy communication.
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