There's a particular introductory phrase that always causes me to wince, that makes my mental hackles rise, that pegs my bogosity meter:
| "The fact is, ... " |
More than 99% of the time, when someone begins a sentence that way (or with an equivalent "The fact of the matter is, ...", "It's a fact that ...", etc.) it's time to hang on to your wallet, and to your skepticism. That "certain expression" (pun intended!) is a red flag that what comes next is no fact at all, but rather prejudice or opinion — something that the speaker wishes were true, but likely isn't.
(cf. ThinkingThroughPrejudice (5 Jun 1999), ...)
TopicWriting - TopicLanguage - 2005-10-26
(correlates: FarTooSmart, WhateverYouWant, BetterWriting, ...)