Hedging

Do you know that the word "hedge" can have three different meanings? I only knew two of them - until this week. Then I learned the third.

Boss: Lindsy, you really have a lot of good things to say during the kids' doctor appointments. But you need to be more confident. You hedge a lot.

Me: I what? Oh, do you mean that I qualify my statements? Yeah, I do that all the time. People have told me it's annoying.

Boss: Well, you need to stop!


So what did I do once the conversation was over? Google "hedge" of course! Unfortunately, I wound up with a bunch of sites for hedge funds and grass hedges. But then I found this:

A hedge is a mitigating device used to lessen the impact of an utterance.

For example:

He is a slightly stupid person.
I'm not an expert but you might want to try restarting your computer.
The party was somewhat spoiled by the return of the parents.
There might just be a few insignificant problems we need to address.

In order to avoid offending someone/sounding too harsh, I tend to hedge all over the place.

I mean, you don't have to if you don't want, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd....

Well, I might be wrong, but I think that....

My personal favorite, Not to be rude, but [insert rude statement here].

Basically, don't believe anything I say because I have no idea what I'm talking about. Or I'm kind of afraid you might hit me so I'm going to sugarcoat whatever I say to you.

I'm sure it leaves people saying, "Will you just SAY IT?!"

Yeah, I'll maybe try to work on it, ok?