I Personally Feel That...

[sagehen]

Duane Campbell writes:
>On Thu, 12 Sep 2002 08:59:16 -0400 Grant Barrett
>>
>> What is the function of "personally" here?
>
>This came up just as I had written the sentence, "I personally kill
>several myself." Speaking of potted plants, horticide.
>
>I tried the sentence without "personally" and it wasn't the same. So I
>had to think about why I used it, trying several different words. What it
>meant it that usage was "alone, all by myself, just me without any help."
>
>D
~~~~~~~~
"Personally" probably works quite differently in a self-started statement
like  this from the way it does in response to being put on the spot by an
interviewer's question.  In the second case, aside from having  some of the
functions already suggested, it seems to me (personally!),  it can be used
either deprecatingly or harrumphingly (just filling space with some rococo
flourishes).
A. Murie