I Think I've Had Enough

The most overused phrase in America since Paris Hilton trademarked “That’s hot!” is “I think”.

Not only is it the most overused phrase, it is also the most redundant. I hate to do this to you, but listen, really listen to sports talk (or political talk shows for that matter) and the blowhards that host and are guests. Every other word (almost literally) is “I think”. Pretty soon that is all you will hear them say. Like I said, I’m sorry to do this to you.

*Side note. My cousin Matt and I often complain to each other about the insidiousness of Pat Hughes. Matt doesn’t care for Pat’s condescending attitude and stupid phrases (St. Loo and pop-fly come to mind). My gripe, initially, was Hughes’ sing-song delivery. Matt said he never noticed it but once I brought it up, that’s all Matt hears.

I didn’t major in English, but it seems to me that unless you make a statement and have sources to cite, then anything that comes out of your mouth is what you think. Oh sure, you can say “The Bears are 4-3” and not reference the standings at NFL.com or the Chicago Tribune, but that’s because everyone who follows football knows the Bears’ record. We saw it happen.

But if some so-called expert says “Albert Pujols is the greatest player in baseball history” or “Pujols had the greatest World Series performance in Game 3”, it’s redundant to say “I think” before those two phrases. And most times the people you listen to won’t simply say “I think Pujols is the greatest player in baseball history” they will phrase it thusly:

“I think Albert Pujols is, I think, the greatest player and I think he’s the greatest in baseball history.” “I think” has become a tortuously stupid crutch phrase. Much like “like” and “um” and “you know” has.

When you are communicating, it’s okay to have silence when you’re moving on to your next point. Saying “um” or “you know” doesn’t enhance the experience.

*Side note #2 – As a child, my sister and I used to tease our mom about her use of “you know”. One time while she was on the phone we listened to her talk for five minutes and counted 47 “you know”s. I kid you not.

Personally I think (look what I did right there) it’s due to the self-indulgent generation* we live in. First of all, A LOT of people like the sound of their own voice. Additionally there seems to be an abundance of love for self-attention, so by saying “I think” every other word or sentence, you get to deflect the conversation back to yourself endlessly.

*Look at the wide receivers scoring a touchdown. Are they handing the ball to the official ala Walter Payton or Barry Sanders? No. They are creating more and more elaborate dances and celebrations for a first quarter touchdown. Are baseball players calmly running around the bases after a homerun? Some are, many are not. They are pointing to the sky because obviously their deceased relative or higher being was the reason the home run was hit. They hop on homeplate and give exuberant high fives because their blast brought their club back to trail by only six.

Maybe it’s because there isn’t enough genuine conversation going on anymore and people feel they only way they’ll be heard is by doing all the talking and redirecting everything back to themselves.

A sage man (Twain?) once said that we were given two ears and one mouth and we should use them in that proportion. Of course, all of the above is without scientific evidence – it’s only what I think.