Tuesday, 6 November 2007

"Strongly Agree"

This has been irritating me for some time now.

Multiple choice forms seem to be proliferating through every aspect of my life these days, and no phrase annoys me more at the moment than "Strongly agree".

What on earth is that supposed to mean?

"Agree", as I'm sure most people aware means
  1. To grant consent; accede: We agreed to her suggestion.
  2. To come into or be in accord, as of opinion: I agree with you on that issue.
As I can't imagine any form asking me to agree to anything in a multiple choice scenario (eg: Surgery? 1 Strongly disagree 2. etc.) I'm going to go ahead and deduce that we're dealing with the second of the above uses.

So to be in agreement is to be in accord. Some would say to align your opinions.

Please explain how I strongly align my opinions with someone.

NB "Completely agree" is almost as bad, but only because it usually follows "Agree"
I hereby call for all wording on multiple choice forms to be changed. I propose the following:
  1. Disagree (entirely)
  2. Disagree with certain key aspects
  3. Disinterested
  4. Agree, but with reservations
  5. Agree
I've even managed to get a valid use of "Disinterested" in there. Marvellous.

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