How often have you used the word “right” as a one-word sentence? I hear it often from guys who are answering questions in the simplest form. Sometimes, just to please others or when they are asked certain questions or opinions that you know will be agreeable to them or as a way of giving a simple answer to a question that one can easily understand.
I started using the word “right” as an answer to questions I sometimes did not know how to answer. It started long ago when I was in Middle School. If I was asked a mathematical question like “what is 4 times 4?” And then they say “is it 16?” I just answered “right”. It was almost redundant that they would give me the answer after asking the question. Because I was not a talker, most teachers expected me to answer with limited words or conversation. While that continued to happen to me early on, I adapted to just answering certain questions with the word “right”.
In fact, I use the word “right” so often that my favorite uncle would respond with “I like that answer. It’s short and to the point”. He admired my answer because it was not only funny to him, but also an idiosyncrasy of my personality in that I never spoke very much and when I did, I would just use the shortest sentence to get my point across to a group. He even said “I’m going to start using the word “right”” because it is a simple answer from my personality and when he would say it, it would remind him of me. As a matter of fact, “right” is a synonym for the word “exactly (XZAKLEE)”. So it kind of expressed a part of my personality because everybody in my family started using the word “right” as an answer. At first I thought they were making fun of me because not only was my voice very deep and monotone, I also spoke quietly. So they could hardly hear me sometimes. I found out later they were all doing it strictly out of the enjoyment of communicating with me and not satirizing me. It’s not so bad to use the word “right” because it has so many definitions. In today’s society, I hear the word “right” used frequently as much as I hear the word “exactly (XZAKLEE)” used in all types of communication and social media.
From my perspective, using the word “right” is used as a way to agree with someone. I have a tendency to use the word “right” as a one-word sentence answer. After searching out the word “right” I found a number of examples using this word to answer someone with an agreeable answer using the word “right”.
Example 1:
Guy: That article we just read explains what we were just talking about, right?
Gal: Right.
Example 2:
Gal 1: (going on and on about her boyfriend): Don’t you think Tony’s the cutest? Gal 2: Right (secretly rolling her eyes).
On the other hand, some people may ask me after I use the word “right” as an answer, “What’s right?” Then I would just basically explain in the simplest of words that I was agreeing with them. Sometimes, they would continue on saying “Well what do you agree with? And I would say “I agree with you”. That pretty much ended the conversation. For the people who knew my personality and my quirkiness, they would just move on. For the people who did not know me, sometimes they would just scratch their heads in confusion and then they would move on too.
Do you feel it is okay to use the word “right” as a one-word sentence when answering a question? Or do you think it is a feeling of indifference to what a person is talking about? Let me know how you feel. Hopefully, I have given you a communication situation that has been a part of my early life in communicating with other people. Because much of this story took place when I was a teenager, I was unaware of how it sounded to other people who would listen to me. I had other speech issues and many people in school accommodated my speech issues. I would like to know how you would address a teenager or young person in answering with the word “right” as a one-word sentence answer. How would you have them answer when using the word “right” as a form of communication, especially now that everyone is texting and using short abbreviations for just about every type of communication? It is now kind of an endearment when I talk to friends and use the word “right”. Your insight is definitely useful to guys and gals who speak in short sentences.
/ZO