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Like so many other things, "I think" usually doesn't have the literal meaning "I think." It indicates a low-to-moderate level of conviction. Stating something
by dkarl 17y ago
Like so many other things, "I think" usually doesn't have the literal meaning "I think." It indicates a low-to-moderate level of conviction. Stating something without saying "I think" (or doing something else to soften your statement) indicates a high level of conviction. It implies that people without a similar level of conviction should defer to your opinion. That's what people find objectionable.
- jamesbritt 17y ago" It implies that people without a similar level of conviction should defer to your opinion." Really? How so? I understand that an opinion expressed without qualifiers may indicate a strong belief, but I don't get the implied "defer your opinion" part. Perhaps this is something that some people infer, whether intended by the speaker or not? There are some people for whom every strongly voiced opinion is taken as a personal challenge, rather than being just one person's thoughts, typically offered without any supporting evidence. Hence flame wars and such. Maybe people need to be encouraged to assume every expression has an implied "In my opinion ... " unless there is something offered to back it up.
- ErrantX 17y agoI beg to differ; obviously no hard proof to back this up but I expect that "I think" is used to express an opinion as much as it is to express uncertainty. Also uncertainty is presented in delivery and tone too; so distinguishing the two is relatively easy. When uncertain main emphasis is on the word "think". In an opinion (where you have conviction) the emphasis is on "I"