The Muse

The Atlantic’s word guru, Barbara Wallraff, clears up a problem I’ve always wondered about: isn’t “I would like to thank” somewhat redundant?
Apparently not. Wallraff writes:

In “I would like to thank…,” “would like to” means “I’m doing it even as I speak.” But you won’t find that meaning of in dictionaries — at least, not anywhere you can find it, in any recognizable form. I believe this is called an “implicit performative utterance” — “performative” because the statement actually does what it refers to, and “implicit” because it doesn’t do it literally and directly, the way, for instance, “I hereby thank …” would.

        

fowlerjk style & usage atlantic, phrases, style, usage, words