I find the phrase “imo” or “in my opinion” to be annoying sometimes. I’ve said it very few times in the past, but I don’t like it. I usually don’t like restating the obvious, restating the obvious can make you sound really slow, or sometimes, it can make the person you’re talking to think that you think they’re slow.
When you add “imo” to your sentence, you might as well mention that the grass usually comes in a nice green color if you take care of it, gravity doesn’t let us fall out of the earth, and putting crackers and cheese together happens more frequently than substituting stress balls with cow testicles.
I was able to tolerate the phrase when people have said/typed it to me in the past (by not pointing it out), until today, until somebody who I don’t really like used it.
So here’s a quick background bonus story:
There is a girl, oh let’s call her Hortense (because the name is as disgusting as her heart), who sits next to me in one of my graphic design classes. She has been very rude and disrespectful towards me because the work that I create is more advanced than her’s, and she admits it.
Jealously was the original reason why Hortense acted so offensive towards me. Whenever she looked at my work, she would never say anything good about them, instead she’d say only “sarcastic” things such as, “Oh why don’t you just drap the class?”, “I’m sick of you”, “Please make something bad for a change so I can feel good about mine”, “Dude, just stap already,” etc (she had a funny accent, the kind that would say “bax” instead of “box”).
I’m OK with that kind of stuff, but she just kept on doing it, with every piece I made, to a point where it just became annoying and insulting. My policy for that kind of shit is if somebody is clearly jealous of you or your work and they can’t respect it, brag about whatever they’re jealous of. That’s right, rub it. Rub it all in. Rub cow testicles on their faces if you must.
And that’s what I did. I rubbed cow testicles on her face until she could savor the taste in her mouth (not really). When she would glance over at the projects I worked on, I made sure to tell her it was the best damn thing I’ve ever seen, and she gagged every time.
When she tried to make those stupid sarcastic comments about my work, I would cut her off to tell her how much time, effort, and skill I’ve put into it thus rendering them worthy enough to make love to, and she believed everything I said.
By the time she was fed up with my pretend cockiness, she asked, “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“God’s gift to graphic design,” I proudly declared.
“Ugh, YOU’RE gad’s gift graphic design?” She rolled her eyes at me, “I can’t believe you just said that..blah blah blah”
She just never shuts up.
But back to the point, haha, today in class, I was talking to one of my classmates about how I’m going to decorate my bedroom after the renovation, I wanted the walls to be pink, but I wasn’t allowed to paint it to said color anymore.
Hortense hears my conversation, she rudely cuts in and says, “pink’s nat a really good choice for wahlls in my opinion.”
“Well…no shit it’s your opinion,” I responded.
She looked at me in a sort of sad, did you just say that? expression, and then opened her mouth as if to answer, but snapped it back. I almost felt bad. Almost.
Case in point, using “imo” is retarded. To hear it come from her is even worse that I had to be rude about it. What good does it do besides pissing me off and filling up empty spaces on your ten page essay? “Imo” is a very snotty yet convenient way of saying, “everything that comes out of my mouth is infallible…with the minor exception for every ‘imo’ I add at the end of my sentences.”
But the problem is, anybody who uses “imo”, probably uses it randomly! They only say it when they feel like it and it makes me wonder…
You say, “this pizza doesn’t have enough pepperoni imo,” and den you say, “red doesn’t suit Kathy.”
Now since there’s absolutely no “imo” to be found in the second sentence, but there’s one in the first sentence, does this actually mean that it is of actual fact that red actually doesn’t suit Kathy?
BAH, I fart on your fact!
To reduce the confusion and the inconsistent sloppy usage of “in my opinion”/”imo”, there should be a specific rule.
From here on out, for those who will continue to reuse the phrase, make sure to always point out that it is your opinion for every opinion that you speak of. It is also required that you back up your “facts” with credible sources. I accept textbooks, documentary videos, and magazine and newspaper articles. Websites, ehh, aren’t as trustworthy as the other ones aforementioned. Sorry.
11 Comments
I really enjoy your blogs, I’ve been coming for quite sometime & they’re extremely entertaining. & I really like your ideas for design.
I’ve recently started a web-blog of my own & was wondering if you might mind to do a link-exchange?
& I agree, imo is a tad over-rated, lol.
Thanks!
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Tiff Reply:
May 30th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Well thanks Jaye, that really means a lot to me!
We can certainly do a link exchange
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I use to use IMO a lot too but I’ve been getting annoyed at that phrase and have been slowly cutting it down in my blog. =S
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well.. IMO .. (LMAO jk) .. I don’t think I’ve ever used “IMO/IN MY OPINION” .. unless someone got offended and i’d be like “geez it was only my opinion .. im entitled to one” in a defensive sort of way. haha. If i were you, I would have totally smacked her right then and there. she sounds a bit.. irritating. LOL. I would’ve probably mimicked her accent as well. okay maybe not. okay yes maybe. LOL. You’re right though about the whole IMO thing. but I’ve never really noticed it around me.. except for this once girl who totally fits the description of your over jealous ‘friend’ over there. she sits next to you cause she’s secretly in love with you and your work .. but instead acts like a doofus
LOL.
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LOL at the accent! Is she from the Midwest by any chance? Chicago maybe?
And I love how you gave up on being nice to her. Haha I went to middle school with a chick who was just like that. My grades depressed her because I always did better than her and I totally pulled the whole “Well God was in a really good mood when he made me. You? Not so much” attitude with her when I finally got sick of her.
I must admit I’m guilty of using “in my opinion” when it comes to academic paper because academic people are full of shit and apparently you have to spell that out for them even though it is pretty damn obvious!
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“imo” can be pretty useful if you’re trying to soften your phrasing so I wouldn’t totally trash it, but your very right, a lot of people just use it as filler (including myself).
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i think people use it to stress the fact that it’s their opinion but not everyone elses. so then it’s only their opinion so they don’t have to take much weight because it might not be the majority. i don’t hear the phrase much but when i do it tends to be in that context.
that girl sounds like a real biatch though. being jealous is not going to get her far..
i dislike people who are constantly out there to put you down. my partner for my rotations is like that. everytime i help her out with something or tell her something she’s ALWAYS freakin’ skeptical. always having to get a 2nd opinion to clarify.
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I would never paint my room pink.
ever.
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i never heard of that.. “imo”
intresting.
hehehe do you happen to have examples of this girls work?
o fyi. i love the new layout that painting of you on the side is siiiiickk… ^_^
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I never understood that phrase myself. Isn’t everything in essence an opinion if not proven scientifically? Well, I suppose that’s basically what you said, except worded better. =P
Curse the internet for coining terms that are obvious and aren’t needed.
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hahha… IMO is too long to say, I always use “I think” if I am changing topic in my paper from research to opinion… Jealous people are stupid.
imo!
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People using “IMO” never bugged me until I started noticing people using it all the time on the Television Without Pity boards, thanks to the mods’ rigid “don’t state opinion as fact” rule. Now I can’t stand seeing it anywhere on the internet.
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Tiff Reply:
September 7th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
See, that’s when it started to bug me as well. People tend to overuse it, and rarely do they put any emphasis on “imo”, it’s simply for the sake of using it.
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