People who say “right?” after everything

Habit maybe, ya know?

I know, right?

As bad as people who start with, "Look".

[quote]I know, right?

Not the same thing. That is a confirmation of agreement. In what I'm describing, the speaker just adds "right?" after every statement without giving the listener a chance to actually agree.

Genau

R4 - You exhaust me.

Look, it's, like, a way of speaking guys, and like, live and let live, right.

Isn't this related to upspeak?

OP - I know EXACTLY the affectation you are talking about! I’ve noticed it myself, among younger people, mostly. It’s definitely trendy right now.

Everything younger people do is irrirtating.

C’est courant, n’est-ce pas?

It’s really common, isn’t it, this idiosyncrasy that occurs across languages?

R8: no, it's when someone who is generally kind of arrogant is talking about something they believe is 100% unarguable.

"This is how something is done so this is obviously how you do it, right? Then when you finish doing that, this is obviously going to happen, right? So you need to wait for that to happen, right? When someone doesn't wait for that to happen it's because they don't understand this or that, right? In the end, I should repeat what I said in the beginning, even though I've said it fifteen different times in fifteen different ways throughout this one-sided conversation, right? Ok, thanks, bye. *ignores the presence of the 'recipient' of their lecture and focuses on whatever is in front of them*"

Exactly...it’s not about confirming the veracity of what was just said, or affirming that the listener is on the same page. It’s an affirmation of the speaker’s conviction that what he or she has said it, obviously and inarguably, a fact.

At work, it feels like a desperate attempt to shut down any other point of view by trying to get the appearance of real-time consensus.

I know, right?

Not the same, R15.

Oh, right. Yeah. MmHmmm.

Still preferable to "amirite?"

At least “amirite” is tongue-in-cheek.

Right on, man!

This is definitely a feature of NPR-dialect.

R4, I think R2 ‘s example is more annoying and what I thought you were referring to in your original post. I had a coworker/friend who did the “I know, right” thing all the damn time. It is like nails on chalkboard.

People who end their sentences with “OK?” tend to be aggressively stupid.

Of course the danger with appending "right?" after statements is that it's still an invitation to disagree. The speaker may be implying they're 100% correct, but the very nature of the "right?" question is that it is indeed a question. People can still disagree. So when someone says, "it's obvious that's the way we should do it, right?" Someone can absolutely step up and say "actually, that's not the way at all." By being lazy with the language people who use this affectation are ultimately inviting more disagreement.

R21, it’s one of the reasons I stopped listening to NPR.

Whenever they interview someone, the answer goes like this: “So, [mansplainy condescending lecture], right?” Usually delivered with a healthy dose of coal fry and buzzwords like “synergy” and “framework”.

Fortunately, I don’t know many people in real life who do this.

^^ vocal fry

I usually interpret the “...right?” as “are you following? I’m dumbing this down for you as much as I can”

Since I’m not a pre-schooler, I can grasp most concepts. If I don’t understand something, believe me, I will stop you and ask for clarification.

The British tend to do something similar. They'll make a statement, ending with "isn't he?" or "isn't it?"

Very obnoxious.

[quote] it’s one of the reasons I stopped listening to NPR.

Me too. I cannot listen to any NPR broadcast except for the 5 minute news updates. Also:

"So,"

"Sure,"

"Folks..."

"Issues AROUND..."

One that was rampant in academia but seems to have died down is "ways in which," or more generally the use of "in which" when "that" would suffice. Hopefully some of these other annoying habits will also die out.

It’s also an opinion TV thing. Chris Hayes is a chief offender. In this case it’s a shortcut to gain universal agreement though it may not be the reality.

It’s really funny when he has a panel of ‘righters’ and they just spit right back and forth at each other for an entire segment.

It could make a pretty funny SNL sketch, right?

It's still rampant in my corner of academia, r30

r29 "folks" grates. To me, it's really just a virtue signal.

FOLKS is not about virtue but a way of asserting authority while reducing distance between the user and the audience. It's extremely annoying.

Uh, no,r28. Just no.

This is a joke, right?

Uh, yes r35, yes.

They most certainly DO. And they absolutely ARE.

What about deplorables who start a Facebook statement with 'So'

So what!?.

Y'all understand, right?

I do a lot of public speaking, and we do this so we can take a quick glance at the audience to make sure they understood the last thing we said. If I see vacant faces, I'll say, "Wrong? Where did I lose you?" so that I can back up and elaborate.

Kamala Harris is a big offender. When she says "right?" after making a statement during an interview (as with Joy Reid this weekend), she's asking for approval. This must END immediately. It's probably a habit. She also needs breathing instructions - she breaths in all the wrong places when talking, if she has medical issues, get an inhaler. Harris might be our nominee, and her speaking problems must be improved NOW.

[quote]I do a lot of public speaking, and we do this so we can take a quick glance at the audience to make sure they understood the last thing we said.

Is the audience getting a chance to respond? Unless you're lecturing about extremely complex subject matter and giving them the chance to respond and ask questions, this is condescending.

r28, the classic init?

As bad as "you know" which drives me crazy.

"the truth of the matter " is another irritating habit politicians and talking heads use far too much to make their point.

Hear what I'm sayin'?

like

"Right?" is wrong.

R42, I agree.

Unless your audience is a bunch of morons, a well-written speech, delivered clearly shouldn’t need backtracking and clarification.

Sometimes people think that big words or buzzwords make them seem smarter. Not so. Plain speech, distilled to its most basic message is your goal.

I like Elizabeth Warren for that reason. (I have reasons not to like her, but she is very good at plain speaking.