Therefore I just sort of stay where I am and

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Therefore I just sort of stay where I am and complain, like I am …

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sort of

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If you use the expression “sort of,” people around you might think that you do not “stay” in exact meaning.

4

The word “stay” comes after a proposition “of,” but it is not a noun but a verb.

5

I sort of agree with you :))

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This ‘sort of…’ has the only meaning, it has NO meaning AT ALL ! =))) It has stylistic meaning, however, making the statement not so deadly declarative! =))) It softens the speaker’s attitude to some degree, but it doesn’t mean that people around you might think you do not “stay” in an exact meaning. =))) Rather, the opposite is right, i.e. people around you definitely know you DO stay there but you don’t want to sound extremely resolute about this. =))) All these ‘sort of, basically, actually, kind of’ are considered redundant words conveying no lexical meaning at all, hence the smiles in the post of one of the moderators! :wink: Not quite recommended for use but extremely often heard in spoken English ! =)))

7

“Sort of” literally means “in some way or to some degree.”
Or, you might use it when you cannot think of a good word to use to describe something.
“We’re sort of doing it the wrong way.”–OALD
It does not seem that they say this with a confident tone. The exact meaning is, they are not “doing” it.

8

By using “somehow” instead of “sort of” you can see that they are not doing it quite the right way.

The original question centered around someone who “somehow” stayed in a job, he really didn’t like that much but the alternative seemed too much of an effort. Sort of is never 100 %, when we sort of do something, it is half-hearted, we are not committed to it, etc, etc, (Much as you say.)

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what is mean?

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I agree with Pauler that “sort of” softens what is being said. In your example from Eating Out, the guy feels badly about his constant complaining about his job but doing nothing to change. His saying “just sort of stay” softens his condemnation of himself for this. In the example given by Yukata, “We’re sort of doing it the wrong way,” the speaker apparently feels it is too harsh to declare “We’re doing it the wrong way.” It’s more tentative, and less challenging to authority or to the group, to soften the statement.

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I think "sort of " means : kind of or perhaps : type of .

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