I checked the stats.
Thanks to the magic of the “Find” function, I now know that “actually” shows up in 349 of my blog posts.
That’s a lot of “actually.”
But then I searched “really.”
Five. Hundred. Thirty. Eight.
And suddenly, I had to face the cold, adverbial truth: I am in a toxic relationship with these words.
They’re not just frequent flyers — they’re squatters.
“Actually” shows up uninvited to explain things no one questioned.
“Really” is always there to nudge a sentence along like, “Did you know this is important? No really?”
I could quit them, of course. Any time I wanted.
Actually, no I couldn’t.
I really couldn’t.
(See?)
But if I had to give one up — send it on a long vacation with no return ticket — I’d probably start with “really.”
Not because I don’t love it. But because I love it too much.
It’s my emphasis, my italics, my caffeine boost in word form.
Which means it might be time to detox.
So here’s to more precise writing. To stronger verbs. To sentences that don’t need a crutch.
Actually… maybe next week.
Copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
This made me laugh out loud—mostly because I suddenly feel exposed by my own overuse of “actually” and “really.” (Apparently, I’m not alone in my adverb dependency!) It’s wild how these little words sneak into our writing and set up camp, isn’t it? I love your idea of a word detox—though I might need a support group before I can let go of my trusty “really.” Here’s to braver, bolder sentences… eventually. Maybe. Possibly. (Okay, I’ll start tomorrow.) Thanks for making the editing struggle so relatable and fun!
I’d not thought to use this as a way to see if I have any regular offenders in repeated words. I probably have something similar