| These can be "problematic" words, but there's a spectrum of psychology
going on behind them. I used to wince at maths textbooks that began with a riot of arcane
symbols then the words "Obviously, from equation 1....". But as I
became a more accomplished mathematician the word "obviously" took on
a less abrasive meaning. In this context "obviously" means that
something follows naturally from, without requiring substitution or
reconfiguration of ideas. It isn't really a judgement on the reader's
mathematical skill. When used in this domain/profession specific
sense, if a student is offended/excluded (in the common-sense way of
it not "seeming obvious"), then they aren't at a level to be reading
that text and need to step back a level before approaching. Again, in the case of "just works", although a bit pompous and
presumptuous (because often technology that claims to "just work"
fails spectacularly), the context makes it fairly benign. Here it's
synonymous with "simply" or "without elaborate operational steps". Us engineers have a clumsy way of prefixing minimisations to indicate
that a step should not present problems (or there may be a
fault/error). But as you say, and where I also draw the line is in more colloquial
deployments of "just" and "obviously" as power qualifiers. It's not
that they're neutral judgements of another's skill or the task fit. "Could you just pass me salt" plays down the ask, and almost succeeds
in being diminutively polite, but with a tiny shift of tone it also
undermines the status of the person addressed - there is a silent "...
if you can be f-king bothered you lazy toe-rag" at the end of it. It's a very classist British device to use understatement in a
withering way. "Obviously I wouldn't agree to that" is more than just a little
haughty, it's a (perhaps insecure/defensive) way to elevate ones
status rather than only disagreeing. If you listen carefully you can
hear "Obviously a person of my standing would never deign to entertain
something so ridiculous." In many cases we find these uses of "just", "clearly", "obviously",
performing the function of "minimisation", to downplay the value of
the other, their lived experience or status. Sometimes you need to listen carefully for which one is being used. |