Sometimes ‘absolutely’ and similar agreement words are just too formal for the occasion.
So how can we tell someone we think they’re correct, while still sounding like we’re talking to a familiar person?
“Dead right!” is a good start. ‘Dead’ as an amplifying adverb, incidentally, is not slang, although it has a extremely informal ring to it. (In fact it’s dead good for emphasising anything in a chatty kind of way.)
It has no connection to the state of ceasing to be alive and, in fact, has a similar meaning to the aforementioned ‘absolutely’.
If the other person, in your view, could not possibly in any way be more right, you can use one of the following:
“That’s spot on, that is!”
“That’s bang on!”
Both suggest they’ve aimed something at a target and hit it most effectively. Imagine someone scoring a bullseye* on a dartboard.
‘Bang on’ has a slighty more dramatic edge, as it reflects a loud noise made while hitting the target.
And although it’s hard to envisage anyone being anything ‘more than right’, ‘too right’ suggests that that’s what someone has achieved.
“I think he should ditch that bad boss and get a new job!”
“Too right!”
It’s the ultimate agreement phrase.Too right it is!
* A ‘bullseye’ is the area at the centre of a dartboard, it’s marked in red in the photograph above. Hitting it gets the thrower the highest possible score. The act of hitting it with a dart is also known as getting or scoring a ‘bullseye’.
Sometimes ‘absolutely’ and similar agreement words are just too formal for the occasion.
So how can we tell someone we think they’re correct, while still sounding like we’re talking to a familiar person?
“Dead right!” is a good start. ‘Dead’ as an amplifying adverb, incidentally, is not slang, although it has a extremely informal ring to it. (In fact it’s dead good for emphasising anything in a chatty kind of way.)
It has no connection to the state of ceasing to be alive and, in fact, has a similar meaning to the aforementioned ‘absolutely’.
If the other person, in your view, could not possibly in any way be more right, you can use one of the following:
“That’s spot on, that is!”
“That’s bang on!”
Both suggest they’ve aimed something at a target and hit it most effectively. Imagine someone scoring a bullseye* on a dartboard.
‘Bang on’ has a slighty more dramatic edge, as it reflects a loud noise made while hitting the target.
And although it’s hard to envisage anyone being anything ‘more than right’, ‘too right’ suggests that that’s what someone has achieved.
“I think he should ditch that bad boss and get a new job!”
“Too right!”
It’s the ultimate agreement phrase.Too right it is!
* A ‘bullseye’ is the area at the centre of a dartboard, it’s marked in red in the photograph above. Hitting it gets the thrower the highest possible score. The act of hitting it with a dart is also known as getting or scoring a ‘bullseye’.
