British culture expects people to be appropriately tentative about their views. Acknowledging limitations, qualifications, and counterarguments is seen as sophisticated rather than weak. Someone who is too certain, too confident, too unwilling to consider other views, loses credibility.
In practice, this means qualifying your assertions: “On balance, I think…” rather than “Obviously…” It means welcoming challenges to your reasoning rather than defending against them. It means deferring decisions for reflection rather than deciding on the spot. The language provides extensive vocabulary for degrees of certainty—use it. Being willing to say “I’m not sure” or “I might be wrong about this” builds credibility rather than undermining it.
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