Language and Taking Responsibility

To take responsibility for one’s own actions is an oft-lauded virtue today, but, in some ways, it’s all talk. Our use of language reveals an increasing tendency to do just the opposite—to avoid taking responsibility for our opinions or for the correctness of the information we are providing. How so? Through the interrogative inflection and the craven conditional.* Ms. Picky will explain.

The Interrogative Inflection

The first green sprouts of the avoidance of linguistic responsibility might have come from teenage girls, who have adopted the habit of ending even declarative sentences with a slight rising inflection, making any statement sound like a question:

Adult: What are you studying in school now?

Teenager: European History?

Translation: The teenager is studying European history, but her inflection implies some polite but obscure uncertainty, possibly:

“That’s the course I chose, but I’m not sure I made the right choice.” . . . 

or (more likely):

“I hope you’re not, like, going to ask me any, like, hard questions about, um, wars and, like, stuff in Europe. . . . 

The use of the interrogative inflection has now even spread to journalists, mostly women journalists (perhaps an indication that, even though they have excellent educations, know their way around the world pretty well, are paid quite decent salaries, and sometimes put their lives at risk, they’re still unsure of themselves):

Talk-show host interviewing woman journalist: Where was the latest rebel insurrection?

News anchor: Congo?

Men, of course, exhibit the same tendency to avoid responsibility, but they usually choose a more masculine, aggressive way of expressing it: the craven conditional.

First the straightforward conditional, which works this way:

If I had as much money as he has, then I would give half my fortune to charity.

“Would” is the conditional-mood word here, and it is dependent on the “if” clause. There is an if-then dynamic: If the speaker had more money, then he would give half his fortune to charity. There is nothing wrong with this construction or this attitude. It is only the “craven conditional” that allows the speaker to evade responsibility.

The Craven Conditional

Example 1:

Interviewer: So you think inflation will not be a problem until the fourth quarter then?

Economist: I would definitely say that, yes.

This kind of response leaves the listener annoyed and muttering,  “‘Would’—‘would’?   Well, do you foresee inflation as a problem or don’t you, damn it?”

Example 2: 

Journalist at Press Conference: So, Senator McMurphy, what do you think of the unemployment numbers in your state?

Senator: The numbers would seem to be definitely improving.

The listener here is left thinking: Well, what’s the story? The numbers are right in front of you—are they improving, or aren’t they? Or does the senator need to put his glasses on?

Don’t Be Afraid to Say You’re Not Sure

If you aren’t sure of something, say so. It’s perfectly all right to say, “That’s what I think based on the information I have so far,” or “That’s what I think as long as we don’t have war in the Middle East,” or even “I just don’t know.”

Making a statement that is intended to convince the listener that you’re certain about something—but still leaves you a loophole to wriggle out of in case you’re wrong—is craven and cowardly. The conditional “would” should not be used as a free pass to evade responsibility for taking a position or for giving inaccurate information. The conditional form is so named because the speaker is supposed to be stating the condition under which he would think [whatever he’s saying]. No condition? Then no conditional.

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*The “craven conditional” is a phrase that has been used, mockingly, by a number of grammarians. Ms. Picky does not claim to have coined it, nor does she know exactly whom to attribute it to; she simply thanks its creator for a beautifully descriptive expression.

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Bulletin Board

To E.R.: “Hopefully” and “additionally” are misused more often than they are used correctly. Ms. Picky will address the use of those words in another post.

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