"as much as it pains me to..."

Question

Hello, I'm wondering what's the different between "it pains me to say ..." and "as much as it pains me to say..." ? in the latter one, what is the thing that is "as much as it pains me" ?

"A little effort goes a long way in a foreign country," said the study’s director. "As much as it pains me to say it, perhaps the Germans actually deserve to get the best service."

Thank you in advance!

TrysB · Accepted Answer

Hi ESL-b,

The two phrases mean the same thing--that what I am about to say goes against my principles or beliefs [pains me], but that I have to admit that it appears to be true.

In your particular sentence, it is not clear what it is that antagonizes the feelings of the study's director so much that it causes him or her to feel 'pain' when making the statement about Germans.

Using your first construct, the sentence could be reworded to: It pains me to say this, but perhaps the Germans do actually deserve to get the best service.

Does that help?

TrysB

Anonymous · Answer

I believe that there is actual pain at the source of this. At least as used in my family. There is a term known as 'cognitive dissonance.' It is very painful, in fact the pain is such as to dissuade the untrained from perusing an investigation. For instance, it is understood that we do not see the predators known as psychopaths even though we pass them every day, we work next to them, young psychopaths are in every school in the nation. They escape detection because it is actually painful to complete a thought about the psychopath.

Typically when we stumble over something or some one emotionally destroyed by a psychopath, the universal reaction is to say 'how can a human being do such a thing?' Then we look at the suspects and think that the suspects are human beings such that they could not have done this, as there is no sensible reason for the Destruction, there is nothing for the sane person to gain from destroying another. We then dismiss further investigation most easily by assuming there has been only a simple misunderstanding, we offer forgiveness, and we hope for redemption touching the heart of any offender. But the opposite is true.

The psychopath destroys things just for the delight of 'teaching us to respect them' there is no gain from the destruction that we recognize as gain, nothing of value, just delight in supporting their fragile superiority needs By tearing down others. In learning about how these predators go undetected, I have learned that 'cognitive dissonance' or the attempt to join two thoughts that are opposite one another is at play. 'he is human, psychopaths are not human, so he is not a psychopath' is much easier than wrestling with the thought that 'he is a psychopath' and has caused destruction constantly until he became bored.

In the movie Gas Lighhting' Ingrid Bergman won her first Academy Award for Best Actress of 1944 by playing a victim of her husband. He has deliberately driven her mad. Her pain causes her to collapse repeatedly.
there is actual pain searing through the body as the mind attempts to reconcile the irreconcilable. how could a seemingly loving and supportive husband deliberately drive the Bergman character mad. (It looks over played until the viewer understands that the pain is searing, it is actually

TrysBIt pains me to say this

pain (not just mental anguish.)

So the statement 'it truly pains me to (say this)' is, to my view, an actual pain.

As shown in the first answer the pain comes from a twisting of a principle. Cognitive dissonance is a severe twisting of principles.

Disland

"as much as it pains me to..."

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