One of my (language) pet peeves is when someone opens with &#x27;Honestly, ...&#x27;<p>When it&#x27;s appropriate I suggest to them that everything they say without that prefix might therefore be assumed to be otherwise.  I suggest &#x27;Candidly&#x27; or &#x27;Frankly&#x27; if they mean they&#x27;re about to be blunt.  Or just avoid any kind of qualification entirely.  Usually I&#x27;m ignored, of course.<p>But this is a particularly unpleasant arrangement of words -- an inherent and obvious contradiction, whereby independence of bias is claimed in spite of, and in conjunction with, proof of bias.<p>I wonder at the kinds of readers (of reviews or otherwise) who find comfort in such a disclaimer.