The devolution of English language and slothful c.l.p behaviors exposed!

[K Richard Pixley]

On 1/23/12 21:57 , Rick Johnson wrote:
>
> Here is a grep from the month of September 2011 showing the rampantly
> egregious misuse of the following words and phrases:
>
>   * pretty
>   * hard
>   * right
>   * used to
>   * supposed to
>
> "Pretty" is the most ludicrous of them all! As you will see, "pretty"
> is used superfluously, over and over again! In fact, you could safely
> omit "pretty" without sacrificing any meaning of most all the
> sentences that include the word "pretty". Likewise, in 99% of the
> examples, the word "difficult" can be substituted for the word "hard"
> without sacrificing any meaning. Same for "correct" and "right". Of
> course, "used to" and "supposed to" will require people to rethink
> there lazy and slothful ways.

I disagree on all points.

"Pretty" means "mostly".  The difference in meaning is significant. 
"I'm sure" is definitive.  "I'm pretty sure" leaves room for variation.

My dictionary lists "arduous" as the second, (of 17), definitions for 
"hard".

etc.

--rich