SPANIARDS AND "LA VERDAD"

 I don´t only hear what people say but also how they say what they say. Often we just go away with a meaning we have caught, but cannot remember how that meaning was presented in terms of words. This bad habit of mine is bad because I detect all kinds of incongruities in people´s speech. Of late I have been alerted to "la verdad es que..." which may be heard more often than we wished. "Le gusta a usted el café? La verdad es que sí." "Ayer en el baile lo pasamos muy bien, la verdad." "Es verdad que la capital de Afganistán es Kabul." "Pues, sí, es verdad." "¿Me quieres, Federico? Pues. sí, la verdad es que te quiero mucho, Anacleta." 

Of course, English-speaking people also use "the truth" quite often. But the gist of this small entry is to make us aware of what a disaster it is to use empty filler words and expressions that are meaningless, and devoid of any charm. 

But even Don Juan, in José Zorrilla´s "Don Juan Tenorio" says to Doña Inés: "¿No es verdad, ángel de amor, que en esta apartada orilla, más pura la luna brilla y se  respira mejor?" I don´t remember what Doña Inés replies to this idiocy, but probably it was something like: "Sí, es verdad."