Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

sorry let me try that again
i was wondering if there is any way that we could possibly come to some kind of an agreement that all meaningless prefaces should be eliminated

meaningless and also the smug "watch out, i'm going to say something very smart and original now!" overtone to it

"dark timeline"
"lawful good/chaotic neutral/etc." being applied to everything like everybody is a D&D player now

a more disingenuously tentative cousin to "Can I just..." "I'm just gonna..." etc. xp

if only i were the sort of person to respond to all of these people with "yes it is ok" or "yes you may"
"go right ahead"
"permission granted"

That is SO not okay to point out.

I often fall into the habit of appending "I think" to the front of posts. Declarative sentences feel too exposed.

*prepending? whatever

"I think" is useful when you want to infer "This is my belief but feel free to disagree and I'm not stuck on it or anything"

(As opposed to "My opinion is the literal truth, no other opinion counts.")

"i think" is useful when you don't want to look like one of those ilmos who post like their personal opinions are coming straight from Mount Olympus

i've noticed that men have started to "i think" and "i feel like"/ other softeners more than they used to
we were advised to remove all hedging and softeners from our communications so we could sound more like men, more assertive, and look what happens next

we could still carry on moving in opposite directions just to see how it works out

i feel like that would be an interesting experiment

i think you might be right

i hereby grant you permission from my perch atop mount olympus

pffffht.
I rarely NEVER express my feelings. And if I did, nothing barring nature's stoic expanse would behold the majestic howlings of the lone wolf.

what the fuck are "feelings"

it's for ppl whose esteem is based on pedantry and a self-congratulatory sense of correctness

this is absolutely true and unfortunately seems to describe most of my experience of the internet!

sorry if i have ever used sorry as a meaningless preface, but

perhaps the most monstrous construction of our age is any patronising, pernickety, hectoring or aggressive comment prepended with "sorry"

it's for ppl whose esteem is based on pedantry and a self-congratulatory sense of correctness. i'm not sure what ppl think they mean when they write it (it's too obviously dickish to be common in spoken english), but it's amongst the most smug uses of ironic politeness going, but ofc it does at least serve the function of marking out its users as pure evil

― ogmor, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 11:23 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't speak for anybody else but for me it generally means "I am trying to signal to you that I would prefer not to be yelled at for this"

as in, the "patronizing" and "hectoring" part is editorializing; for me, it means "I disagree with you enough that I'm moved to say something, but really don't want to get into a fight about it [because I hate getting into fights]"

“That is a thing that happened”

Surely mentioned somewhere upthread but I read it today and almost threw my phone out a window

xp i'm moved to tell you that yr a terrible person but i don't want to get into a fight about it

I mean the ideal outcome of any such comment would be "sorry, I didn't take that into account, I'll do better next time"

I often fall into the habit of appending "I think" to the front of posts. Declarative sentences feel too exposed.

― jmm, Thursday, May 3, 2018 10:21 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark

yeah often this is necessary. people tend to take opinions in a very hostile way. if you offer up your view on a thread topic there is a 50% chance you didn't read the entire thread and somebody has decided there is a generally accepted narrative of discussion going on and now you are attacking it or somebody directly when in fact you just wanted to throw in your 2 cents.

statements made on the internet are opinions, this should be assumed for every post on the internet ever.

you do not have to both agree on the same opinion. two differing opinions can co-exist.

one man's thoughts

the problem is that 'I think' is 4 characters longer than 'imo'; and 'imo' is an easier tell of someone posting their opinion than 'I think' which people might graze over ('imo' is more in your face and less prone to grazing.)

I might of meant glazing

i write imo a lot
the rest does waste space, i agree
if you're gonna add a disclaimer, do it efficiently for yourself & the message's recipients imo

like if you read this message board and dont think just about everything is an opinion i rly dont think any1 can help u

it's a tone thing

"i think"

i hate this thread so much

so is this but ppl still complain abt it and like to tell u 1 is better than the other:

"it it okay to point out"

― Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, May 3, 2018 7:13 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all meaningless prefaces should be eliminated

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Thursday, May 3, 2018 7:14 AM (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Regadless of whether imo is shorter, language can be a plaything - obfuscation and meandering are worth something

This forum is not without posters who believe all of their opinions are pure objective, unarguable facts.

Is that a fact?

my posts are true facts stated

xp

In my humble opinion, I think it is

Everything’s radically subjective - can’t believe we’re still arguing about this

I don't think that fewer keystrokes = better communication. Or more clarity.

All of this is a voluntary leisure activity. If I want to type "in my opinion" instead of "imo" it harms you in no way whatsoever.

Well you can’t argue with the facts

Something being better because of fewer characters was a joke :/

ok

(also a joke btw)

But yeah, if you need extra clarity of whether or not you are saying an opinion it’s because your target audience might include slow folk.

all too common in a large forum or comment section

Well this is disturbing https://t.co/TKbAQornkc pic.twitter.com/nTfyRQAftZ

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) May 2, 2018

I'm one of those awful people who reads it as honest, not humble

I thought maybe it was just people that read buzzfeed, wtf dude

My excuse is that I'm so old, I can't properly translate internet lingo