This phrase bugs me: ”cautiously optimistic”.
I hear it every now and then. And I saw it in today’s paper in reference to the successful capping of the oil spill.
But what does it even mean to be “cautiously optimistic”?
Would we license ourselves to use a similar construction in the opposite manner?
As in, I’m feeling something like, “hopefully pessimistic”?
I didn’t think so.
So I’m left with the conclusion that anytime somebody says they’re “cautiously optimistic”, they’re really just trying to disguise the fact that they’re a closet pessimist.
Think about it for a while. . .
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