Is “my own personal opinion” really redundant? (You know where I stand on this; and I know Niki, for one, will back me up.) The debate has begun, over at Garrett’s blog (scroll to the comments section), where he’d wanted to talk about healthcare, but instead has been sucked into a semantics debate. Mwahahaha!!
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23 Responses to "From the Department of Redundancy Department"
I’ve been wearing my shirt!
i can vouch for the shirt wearing! and of course i think ‘my own personal opinion’ is redundant, but i’m sure you knew that.
Oh… I thought of one last night while I was writing up this event I went to for work on Monday on education and immigrant integration in the U.S. and Canada. I write “arrived immigrants,” and realized that was redundant. While “arrived emigrant” would be contradictory, wouldn’t it?
Hmm… I realize that out of context my statement of “I’ve been wearing my shirt” is rather (ALERT: British spelling) humourous. Okay… I’m going now.
Good point, Niki. It implies that up until recently, you did NOT wear a shirt. (Since no article was specified in your statement, “my” could be taken to refer indefinitely to any shirt.) Hey, the weather’s nice in DC now, might as well go for it! Although I don’t think that would be appropriate for work.
Village whore junkie slutbunny.
I’m actually of the mind that saying “in my opinion” at all is redundant. If it’s an opinion, and you’re saying it, and you’re not attributing it to anyone else (”Example: That jacfkass Rush Limbaugh says feminists should be hunted for sport”), then of *course* it’s your opinion. Whose else would it be?
And speakers of “In my humble opinion” should be smacked in the face with hammers.
Or, ya know, instead of scrolling, you could actually read the entry and discuss the issue. Either one is fine.
Any and all discussion, whether it be of semantics, healthcare, perceived personal attacks, or anything else, is welcomed with open arms. I turn no one away.
Normally, yes, but if you look at what I actually said, I was just qualifying my comments since I was mentioning a study done by my employer and since I also mentioned my job several times. It’s my opinion, one which is not the opinion of my employer, nor is it my opinion in any professional context through my employment with them (which, since I was quoting their study, could have been the perception of someone, somewhere), and lastly, I was not paid to give said opinion. These things are obvious to some people, but I don’t want to take chances with so many blog-related firings going on. I guess if being overly cautious in my disclaimer’s wording is the cost of remaining employed, I am willing to put up with people wanting to discuss the disclaimer and ignore the other 453 words in the post as well.
And while we’re on the topic, Michael, isn’t “I’m actually of the mind that” the same as saying “In my opinion”? I mean, you said it. I already know that since you’re the one who said it… ;)
Oh Garrett. You’re so lovable with your comments. ;) And yes, I would like to discuss healthcare. But a snarky comment about grammar is all I had time to write.
We shall discuss this at trivia tonight. Because it is ON, motherfuckers!!
When we are talking to people who are writing reviews for JIVE, we nixor the “In my opinion.” It’s a review for crissakes. Of COURSE it’s your opinion. However, in the context of, I work for X, who stated Y, and then you want to give your opinion, you should make a distinction. Something like, “In my personal opinion, XYZ; but my professional assessment from X Point of View is XYZ.”
I concur with Garrett … can’t you be giving a professional opinion versus a personal opinion?
That is a travel agent could say in her professional opinion, it’s best to stay at X because it would bring money to her. But in her personal opinion stay at Y because, well, it’s cheaper.
Well, honestly, I didn’t say “personal” because of my audience. You guys know that what I post in my blog is my opinion, and I know you know that. I said it in part because there’s a very slight teeny tiny chance that some media reporter type, doing research for a news story, could happen upon my blog via a trackback or something, and irresponsibly print
"Garrett Vonk, from Acme Corp., slams company-paid healthcare and suggests, in a very elitist tone, that employers have no responsibility for their employees’ well-being. We demand an explanation from Acme Corp., a market leader in the healthcare industry, for this highly irresponsible viewpoint.”If that happens, we all know it means instant termination for the employee, so I attempted to be as strong as possible in my wording. This is one of many highly implausible, but nonetheless terrifying, possible consequences for posting opinions publically on the Internet.“And while we’re on the topic, Michael, isn’t “I’m actually of the mind that” the same as saying “In my opinion”? I mean, you said it. I already know that since you’re the one who said it… ;)”
A touch, a touch, I do confess it.
I hadn’t considered the unique necessities of blogging, which is odd, considering I’m vigorously pursuing a job which would affect damn near everything I do on the Internet. The lion’s share of “IMO’s” I see are on comic discussion boards, where almost *every* statement is an opinion. And I’ve been more aware and less tolerant of redundancies since George Carlin’s first book came out.
You all need a legal disclaimer, I’ll be happy to provide one free of charge!
The opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual author and may not reflect the opinions of his employer, his spouse or his dog.
Well, it finally seems that people can understand the unique characteristics of blogging that forced, FORCED me I tells ya, to use the dreaded triple redundancy. Case closed. ;)
In fact, I already have a disclaimer on my blog… or does no one ever scroll down far enough to see it?
Also, Garrett (and I’ll state this publicly, to prove how ashamed I am), I just realized that I left trivia tonight without paying! I know I probably didn’t owe anything, considering I only had my requisite sweet tea and shared some cheese bread with you and Hoover, but I still should’ve left a tip. I trust you (or someone) tipped in my stead…? So, next time I see you I’ll give you a few bucks for “services rendered,” how’s that?
You are such a mooch, M@ber.
Well, I mean, technically, I think everyone slightly mooched off of your and Chris’s overpayment two weeks ago, so this time, everyone paid a little extra. But you’re right. You probably were pretty damn close to the $4 each of us technically won, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. And to be honest, I counted the tip, as I always do, and it was somewhere above 40% of our total bill, so Mike was well taken care of. I don’t generally make sure each person has paid his fair share; I rather just make sure the bill is paid and our bartender is tipped well. Of course, winning $50 nearly every week lightens the load considerably.
Isn’t “own” an intensifier? It has a function, though not a crucial one. Articles are rarely crucial either. If you insist on saying that “my own personal opinion” is redundant — and allowing it pet peeve status — you should stop using all articles and most intensifiers. You should also write in Latin since it is so efficient. Yes, inserting the adjective “own” is redundant, but doing so inserts additional meaning.
I think it would be more interesting to discuss the redundancy of repeating a word already represented in an acronym, such as your example of “PIN number.” I will assert, though, that “ATM machine” is a useful phrase because “ATM” has more than one meaning. I have been concerned with Asynchronous Transfer Mode in one job and automated teller machines in the next.
Well, those are givens that M@ber and I always talk about. You know, “Gotta go put my PIN number into the ATM machine so I can pay the plumber to fix my hot water heater.”
I wrote a post about redundancies and acronyms when I was living in Texas. Perhaps you can track it down in the archives! ;)
And Adrian: you crack me the fuck up.