"With all due respect"
Language Log 2019-12-20
Summary:
If someone prefaces a sentence by saying "with all due respect", it's a sign that they are likely to unleash something negative or critical, and sometimes quite vulgar and highly disrespectful. The result, then, is to intensify, rather than to mitigate, their criticism. Paul Gogarty, a member of Ireland's Green Party, unloaded some fairly colourful […]