Context

Some dictionary definitions

1. “completely confident that one is right”
2. “sure of/to do something”
3. “certainly (used for emphasis)”
4. “true beyond any doubt”
5. used to show assent (agreement): ‘Are you serious?’ ‘Sure.’

NOTE: Not going into parts of speech, that will make things more complicated.

Examples

Example 1

Q: “Do you think you can do this task by tomorrow ?"
A: “sure”

Here, by ‘sure’, the other person is saying maybe something match defintion 2 i.e. “sure to do something”. Great!

Example 2

Q: “Did you understand what I just explained ?"
A: “sure”

Here, by ‘sure’, the other person is saying something similar to definition 5 i.e. showing agreement.

Example 3

Q: “Would you be free at 10 am tomorrow for a meeting ?” A: “sure”

here, by ‘sure’, the other person is saying something similar to definition …..??

Example 4

Q: “I went through your writeup, and I am not really able to understand one specific topic. Would you able to record this and send it to me by email in a video so that its easier to understand ?"
A: “sure”

here, by ‘sure’, the person is agreeing. ok….

Now, you might ask:

"why i do hate this word when it so succintly answers every
single question we have seen yet ?" and...
"what would be the alternative in your opinion ?"

I am glad you asked.

Revisit examples

Let’s revisit each of the questions and see what might an alternative way to answer them -

Q: “Do you think you can do this task by tomorrow ?"
A: Yes, I’ll most probably be done by eod tomorrow, maybe with some exceptions which I can communicate afterwards.

Here, the answer shows that, even though there’s an impending deadline, the expectation is rightly set in terms of whats being agreed upon.

Ok, next one.

Q: “Would you be free at 10 am tomorrow for a meeting ?"
A: Yup, I am free. Whats the meeting for ?

Here, I am agreeing but conditionally based on what is the agenda. Just saying ‘sure’ leaves me to think - is this person really not interested/curious in what the meeting is about ?

next one…

Q: “Did you understand what I just explained ?"
A: I understood most parts but x, y and z were some points that I couldn’t grap. Could you elaborate ?

Here, the answer shows that they were listening actively and have an interest in learning what was explained.

and last…

Q: “I went through your writeup, and I am not really able to understand one specific topic. Would you able to record this and send it to me by email in a video so that its easier to understand ?"
A: Could you tell me which points in-specific you didn’t understand and maybe I can improve the writeup ? I can also make a video if it’s not clear even after that.

Here, the conversation revolves around improving what’s being asked and not just blankly agreeing to whats being asked.

Can you cut to the chase ?

So, by now if you were paying attention (sure?), you’d have noticed that the answer ‘sure’ leaves the world to the imagination in many cases. What does the answer ‘sure’ mean ?

Sure (:D) it can be a very handy reply to many answers which just need that one word but in most cases, it doesn’t convey what a proper answer should.

By proper, what I mean here is that the listener, or the person answering should be able to convey in their answer that -
a) they were actually listening/paying attention to what’s being asked
b) its completely clear on what’s being asked
c) they do not have any follow-up questions immediately - you can always use sure, but... format here, but many people just leave their ‘sure’s hanging.
d) they are either agreeing with your point or agreeing to do it or confident of it or …. ???

Finally, I find this word to be almost equivalent to slamming the door on a question in the sense that the other person is not willing to even spend a few words to reply back.

Summary

Q: So, are you sure that you still do not like the ‘sure’ word ?
A: Sure