I say that to lower the expectations of me, so in the event I’m wrong, I could pass it off as “I misremembered”
Which is why people should stop saying it. It’s meaningless. Get to the point.
When I say it I mean it, like I think I’m right but not sure, so don’t take it as straight fact.
Not meaningless at all in my opinion
And others use the words as they mean. So it might not be polite. Depends on the listener.
When I say that, it’s because I know my memory is terrible and I might be conflagrating multiple things into something new that only exists in my mind.
That’s so 🔥!
There are subjects in which I have formal training and extensive experience in. Here I speak with authority and don’t use slippery language; I may even cite sources.
There are other subjects that I read about once probably somewhere on the internet at some point in the last 25 years or so. Here I will phrase it as “If I understand correctly” or I might even pose it as a question inviting others to correct me.
I went to flight school during the time when we all thought System of a Down had recorded a song about the Legend of Zelda. If you don’t have an internal rating system about how reliably you “know” the things you “know” you’re probably not worth listening to.
There are subjects in which I have formal training and extensive experience in.
Grammar clearly not being one of them.
I kid. Sorry, I’m a sucker for low hanging fruit.
My college public speaking teacher was also so sure that “wuddn’t” is not a word. y’all gotta problem w’how I tawk can get axe fucked. I’m drunk enough to let out the drawl, c’mon nao.
Lotta potential positions you could take with regards to that system, y’know. cracks epistemological knuckles, what ya got? How do you decide how much weight to attribute to a fact you heard someone else tell you? Who? In what context? That stuff doesn’t, I believe, have a pithy answer
We are in a post-trust world. We’re all probably better off just swimming out to sea.
My head leaks like a sieve.
I’m covering my ass, AFAIK.
Speaking of which, Allegedly and Alibi are great girl’s names. So is Agenda
The names have nice abbreviations, Alle, Ali and Gen
I remember stuff quite confidently.
I always say “if I remember correctly” both as “cover my ass” and also, bait for anyone who subscribes to “alternative facts”.
I usually won’t bother correcting you if you try to correct me, I’ll just let you be wrong.
:/ that’s unfortunate. I say that because I’m iffy where I remember something from.
I say it because my neurodivergent ass memory is my mortal enemy and decides on its own what to remember or not so I have about a 60% confidence on any statement unless it’s a special interest.
And then the person you’re talking to says, “Well I definitely recall and you are wrong.”
this. its like two types of people. I will never say anything is for sure. If I say 99% sure that is about the top for me. I recognize that there could be something untrue somewhere in my statements but I know other folks were if they are over 50% sure they definately know.
But the one time I don’t say it I in fact did not remember it correctly.
I also do it to hedge, because even when I feel sure about something i acknowledge there’s a tiny chance i could be wrong
