Whenever I encounter someone prefacing a statement with “this is just my subjective opinion,” or some variation on that, it immediately causes me to revise my opinion of them downwards.
I agree that it sounds lame. But couldn’t there be a variation that makes them look cool?
“While it could be argued that all such opinions are subjective, my personal opinion is definitely X.”
I think a simple “in my opinion” serves better. All opinions are subjective, otherwise they wouldn’t be opinions, and it comes across as passive and weasel-wordy.
There are variations that can improve on the basic “in my opinion” disclaimer, but they’re situation appropriate. For instance, you might use “In my objective and incontestable opinion,” which is clearly facetious, and signals a deliberate reaction to overly self effacing disclaimers, but it won’t earn you points in circles where self aggrandizing humor is frowned upon.
I’ve met people who get huffy about the suggestion that they preface their opinions with “in my opinion” or “I think that.” For a long time I had trouble explaining what good came of doing so; the best I’ve got so far is “it distinguishes you from the people who think their opinions are facts.” Does this make sense? Any suggestions for making it clearer?
Edit: I just found a couple more ways to explain this in my notes file. One is that “x is bad” invites the conversation “no it’s not!” “yes it is!” (because it’s a disagreement of fact) whereas “I think x is bad” invites the conversation “why do you think that?” (because it’s a disagreement of opinion). The second argument is more interesting. Another is that when you say “x is bad” as an absolute, you’re implying that anyone who likes it is wrong; you’re insulting their taste. When you say “I don’t like x” you’re merely disagreeing with their taste.
I haven’t yet figured out to do with people who actually do believe that their opinions or experiences represent objective truths.
I agree that it sounds lame. But couldn’t there be a variation that makes them look cool?
“While it could be argued that all such opinions are subjective, my personal opinion is definitely X.”
I think a simple “in my opinion” serves better. All opinions are subjective, otherwise they wouldn’t be opinions, and it comes across as passive and weasel-wordy.
There are variations that can improve on the basic “in my opinion” disclaimer, but they’re situation appropriate. For instance, you might use “In my objective and incontestable opinion,” which is clearly facetious, and signals a deliberate reaction to overly self effacing disclaimers, but it won’t earn you points in circles where self aggrandizing humor is frowned upon.
I’ve met people who get huffy about the suggestion that they preface their opinions with “in my opinion” or “I think that.” For a long time I had trouble explaining what good came of doing so; the best I’ve got so far is “it distinguishes you from the people who think their opinions are facts.” Does this make sense? Any suggestions for making it clearer?
Edit: I just found a couple more ways to explain this in my notes file. One is that “x is bad” invites the conversation “no it’s not!” “yes it is!” (because it’s a disagreement of fact) whereas “I think x is bad” invites the conversation “why do you think that?” (because it’s a disagreement of opinion). The second argument is more interesting. Another is that when you say “x is bad” as an absolute, you’re implying that anyone who likes it is wrong; you’re insulting their taste. When you say “I don’t like x” you’re merely disagreeing with their taste.
I haven’t yet figured out to do with people who actually do believe that their opinions or experiences represent objective truths.