It was probably in high school when the excessive use of the word “actually” was first called to my attention. There was always the stereotypical “valley girl” intonation on the end of the word, which was used to start nearly every sentence. Those who used it in such a manner were often seen as either airheads or ones who thought, by using the word, it made them sound smart. It was this phase in life where I pretty much swore-off the word “actually” and, to this day, almost never use it.
Today, it’s nearly 20 years since high school, along with a move to another country, and it seems the use of “actually” is only more prevalent outside the United States; and it’s from folks of all ages, not just immature high school kids. At times, noontime variety show “Eat Bulaga” will jokingly stop their contestants from saying “actually,” claiming the word is only reserved for celebrities (although, I think school teachers were given a pass and permitted to use the word).
However, it is still annoying to me.
Jen Doll penned a piece for The Atlantic on “crutch words,” which she describes as “expressions we pepper throughout our language as verbal pauses.”
She makes note of the use of “actually,” calling it “worse than literally because it offers up sheer attitude in place of literally’s intellectual pretensions.”
Doll wrote: “If actually is your crutch, you are a little bit angry, maybe, and certainly adamant about making your point with a bit of a zing.”
Aside from “actually” being used to start responses, as a way of asserting one’s point as being superior (“Actually, this is how it’s supposed to be done), there is also the “actually” that comes off as pseudo-intellectual.
Eric Holtzclaw revealed in Inc. Magazine the one word that immediately kills your credibility: Actually.
“‘Actually’ is a dead giveaway of an area that at the least needs to be further investigated,” he explained.
Holtzclaw said the proper use of “actually” is when it provides clarification between two thoughts; his example: “Did you go to the store for milk?” / “Actually, I stopped at a gas station.” However, he went on to elaborate on the more informal use of the word, which happens to be the one most people hear on a daily basis.
He used the exchanges “How many customers are using the platform? / We actually have over 100 companies” and “Do you use this product? / Actually, I have.”
“The word ‘actually’ isn’t important to the answer,” Holtzclaw explained. “It’s extra information that makes the listener curious as to why the word was added.”
Claire Carusillo also discussed “actually” in The New Republic, referring to it as “the most futile, overused word on the internet.”
She cited Eastern Illinois University writing professor Roxane Gay, who wrote: “When people use the word actually in many contexts, they are implying that they have exclusive access to a font of incontrovertible knowledge. When they actually you, they are offering you a gift.”
“The use of actually has become so common, in fact, that it has become the source of humor and satire,” Carusillo pointed out. “Usage varies, but tweets bearing the hashtag #actually often aren’t factual challenges but rather jokes about the petty overuse of the word itself.”
Given how the word “actually” appears to be used as a means of giving one a false sense of intellectual superiority, perhaps it is also a symptom of the environment.
Something I have also found to be more common in the Philippines than in the US is a proclivity for acronyms and abbreviations. There are many more acronyms and random abbreviations used locally than personally witnessed elsewhere and this is in terms of both casual conversation and formal writing; it is shocking what some media outlets present as “proper writing.”
It is unclear if it is merely a method of convenience (those long words are just too annoying to write out) or spitting out acronyms and abbreviations makes the user feel they are more “knowledgeable” due to their awareness of the shorter version or if “texting” habits have expanded to the point that it has deteriorated formal speech.
With the recently-released results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment, a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that evaluates education systems, finding, out of 79 countries, the Philippines finished last place in reading comprehension, it begs the question, in terms of vocabulary and reading comprehension, what are people “actually” learning?/WDJ