What do you think it means when a person qualifies an explanation with "Basically...."?

Basically I don’t want to be caught in a lie, so I’ll be as vague as possible.

;) That’s my take on it!

I so agree @SpatzieLover!

For many I think it’s a habit of speech, an empty unit like “you know” and “I mean.”

For about two years I worked in a cubicle next to an engineer who spent hours on the phone every day and used “basically” (which he also mispronounced) in virtually every sentence, driving my thoughts toward varieties of murder.

driving my thoughts toward varieties of murder
I lurve this @Jeruba.
It never ceases to amaze me how much seemingly little things can touch my nerves.

I just assume they’re trying to soften it, much like when people say, “I kinda…. slept with your brother…”.

“Well, I’m like I did write the cheque and put it in the envelop, or so I think I did, but my husband said he’d go to the mailbox, so now I’m like, did he go after all, so it’s like it was my intention to pay, but now I’m like, like it or not…., maybe I didn’t.”

@Jeruba How did he mispronounce it? I used to work with an engineer at Boeing who always said, “Pacifically” when he meant “Specifically.” Drove me NUTS!
I had a girlfriend who always said, “fanthom” when she meant “fathom.” She had a real fondness for the word too! grrrrr!

@rebbel…I use the word “basically” when I’m trying to distill a more complicated thought. When someone uses it for a question that can be answered “yes” or “no” it’s a big flag that they’re stalling!

@Dutchess_III, he said “bezikurry.”

bezicarry?????? ...Was he ESL?

Yes. Sorry, I respelled it for better phonetic approximation.

It’s no judgment against him that he had a strong accent. But it did make the constant, constant, constant overuse more grating.

Seems like it could be at either end of the attention spectrum.
It could be a fuzzy answer that is getting hedged.
Basically, I think that is what it usually means.

And, It could be that a well-thought and thorough answer has some predominant theme that gets the “basically” preface, but there are exceptions to the rule that a complete answer would require. Following that, you can get the rest of the nuanced details…. if you’re nice and aren’t yawning yet.

Well, fortranally, I think it means that they’re giving you a condensed version of a lengthy explanation.

Or, COBOLally, it could be that they’re deliberately withholding some of the information that would counter the argument that they’re, otherwise, trying to make.

It depends on how it’s used. When used in that context, it is unnecessary and is just a filler to think of a lie, like “To be honest.” It should be used as a way to summarize something, for example “Basically, natural selection is….”.

@HungryGuy You and your smalltalk !

@dabbler – And sometimes I speak with a lisp.

I think the word “basically” is a useless word. When people throw it into their speech, I feel like they are not articulate enough to realize that.

@Jeruba did he also say “supposably”? That one can put me right over the edge, and I’m perilously close to begin with.

I would use the word if I wanted to explain a complex issue in simple terms. The whole story isn’t being told, just the key elements.

@Trillian, no, because he was never that unsure of anything. It was the professional writers in my group at more than one company who bludgeoned my sensibilities with “supposably.” Oh, and one editor used ”seldomly.” Ye gods.

Welcome back @Trillian.

Uhmm. I do that sometimes, basically, like, to process thoughts. We’re entitled to a few ditz moments here and there, no? :D

I think it just implies that the speaker is getting down to “brass tacks” similar to saying, “okay, here’s how it is”

It’s supposed to mean that the following explanation is a summary. But people use it everywhere. Sometimes it’s just a filler to give someone a few more seconds to think of an excuse.

It depends on what they’re using it in relation to. I use it in the way that @Bellatrix suggests, as notice that I’m condensing things. In the Judge Judy case you mention, I smell evasion.

It drives Judge Judy nuts. She likes straight answers.