Of the ten examples shown of "out there" in use, only one is matched by the three defining adjectives or synonyms. It seems to me that this phrase is one of our most recent thoughtlessnesses. Why? Because there is no "out there." We posit one with the phrase, but where is it, what is it? "Out there" is what a grammarian or linguist might call a "suprasegmental," a phrasal locative, a phrasal adverb, a "phatic communion." It gains us nothing. In this category too I would put "going forward." Take any sentence uttered or written with "out there" in it, delete those two words (that one phrase), and no harm is done to sense because the phrase added nothing to it. In fact (and the same goes for "going forward"), the sense is complete already, sans phrase.
Comments by forested
Forested commented on the word out there
Of the ten examples shown of "out there" in use, only one is matched by the three defining adjectives or synonyms. It seems to me that this phrase is one of our most recent thoughtlessnesses. Why? Because there is no "out there." We posit one with the phrase, but where is it, what is it? "Out there" is what a grammarian or linguist might call a "suprasegmental," a phrasal locative, a phrasal adverb, a "phatic communion." It gains us nothing. In this category too I would put "going forward." Take any sentence uttered or written with "out there" in it, delete those two words (that one phrase), and no harm is done to sense because the phrase added nothing to it. In fact (and the same goes for "going forward"), the sense is complete already, sans phrase.
January 2, 2012