Saturday 26 September 2009
At this time...
Another lingusitic mystery....Why do officials -- airline cabin staff in particular -- like to say "at this time" when they mean "now" or "right now"? I have never heard a real person use this rather strangled phrase. There is of course the officialese user's fear of the single perfectly adequate word, add more, add more and you sound more important. But I don't think that tells the whole story. Will ponder.
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Perhaps it avoids the commitment of 'right now'. "We'll be serving your dinner right now." Problamatic if punters then expect it promptly and there's an unforseen delay?
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