Usage of 'right?' to replace 'isn't it?' or 'don't they?'

  1. “Right?” does not always have an impolite air in English, even in falling intonation tags.
  • more precise and socially impartial.
  1. “Right?” tends to be favoured by the slightly less sophisticated user.
  • an unproven a socially-blinkered statement.

I don’t perceive “right?” to be impolite. When I make a statement to support an argument, I sometimes use “right?” diffidently at the end of the statement to be polite, to pretend that I’m unsure of the statement.

I’m not sure where that “almost always” with a quote mark comes from.

Cf. my actual statements (which relate to BrE only):

  1. If the speaker is asking you to settle a genuine doubt, it isn’t necessarily impolite; but elsewhere, it can sound a little “cocky”.

  2. When you eventually fall out with your friend, your chirpy “right” will begin to seem disagreeably “cocky”, “provocative”, “peremptory”, etc.

MrP

Once more:

“Right?” does not always have an impolite air in English, even in falling intonation tags.

Next?

Well, now you are arguing against statements I haven’t made. It must be a very rainy day in Spain.

I’ll leave you to tilt at your Molinos, old chap.

MrP

Which type of tag do BrEng speakers generally use if they need to settle a genuine doubt, rising intonation tags or falling ones?