Watching an interview on the cricket coverage, there was an interview with a competitor, and they were discussing fund raising and the great efforts being undertaken. A great interview and a great cause, then the interviewee then said ‘obviously! this is for insert benefiter here”. 

Well you know the thing is, it was not obvious at all. While I don’t mind cricket and do watch it time to time, I’m not in the loop (I’m not a cricket aficionado) so no it was not obvious. In that case it was helpful to make that clearer to me the person watching; thank you.

But the thing is, why make the statement “obviously”, hang on a minute that seems condescending or patronising. Should those of us watching have known better let alone the need to point it out….. I’m not sure I like that.

Reflecting on it though, I’ve made similar statements, actually it seems quite a common term. I’ve heard it in conversation with friends, training, meetings, all kinds of times where people set out to communicate ideas.

Do we really need to go about treating each other in a condescending or patronising way like this? I don’t think so.  And you know what, I don’t think we mean to be condescending at all, perhaps it is a poor habit we’ve developed without noticing.

Moving forward, we can make an effort to notice and simply remove the term “obviously” and continue help people understand what we’re trying to say.