Wednesday, July 29, 2009

How to speak English without seeming like an asshole

How to speak English without seeming like an asshole...Lesson 1

I've been thinking about this one for a few days. Follow along with me...

"In my own opinion." Redundant. If I say something is mine, I mean that I own it. It is mine, it is my own. Same thing.

"In my personal opinion." Redundant. If I say an opinion is mine, I mean it is mine...personally. Is there another kind of "my opinion"? "My opinion that is openly shared with others, as opposed to my personal opinion, which you better not try to bogart!" Bullshit. It's redundant.

"In my honest opinion." Perhaps not redundant, but unnecessary, unless you feel obliged to distinguish when you are being honest from the rest of the time, when you are lying.

Just say "In my opinion" and don't make a big production out of it. Now excuse me, I need to get a new PIN number, so I can use the ATM machine.