Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.
How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.
If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 12th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.
This was originally posted on August 12, 2017.
SoCS — Squishy Words
There are certain words in the English language that I consider to be “squishy.” Words like “suppose,” or “think,” or “believe.” All three of these words denote (or is it connote?) uncertainty.
For example,
- I suppose I can get there in time.
- I think I can get there in time.
- I believe I can get there in time.
The problem with these squishy words is that, in each case, I don’t know if I can get there in time. I can try to get there in time, but I can’t be certain.
But the squishiest word of them all is “guess.”
People know they’re being squishy because of the way they wrap the word “guess” up. They may say, “Well, if I had to guess….” No, you don’t have to guess. No one is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to guess at something.
Or maybe they’ll offer to “hazard a guess.” That means they’re taking a risk, perhaps even a dangerous one, that they may be wrong about what it is they’re guessing.
Even an “educated guess” is still just a guess. Presumably the person who makes an educated guess knows something about the topic on which he or she is making the guess. But while an “educated guess” may reduce the possibility that the guess is wrong, it doesn’t guarantee that it’s right.
I admit to being guilty of using the words “guess,” “suppose,” “think,” and “believe” all the time. But when I ask someone a question and that person is not sure of the answer, I’d prefer to be told “I don’t know” instead of “I guess.”
And with that said, I believe I have covered this topic sufficiently, although I suppose I could provide some more examples. No, I think I’ve said enough.
I guess.
Written for today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt from Linda G. Hill, which is to write a post using or about the word “guess.”
This, That, and the Other 
I’ll use any of those choices *in dialogue*. But if I’m writing just a bog-standard, non-creative post, I’ll be*certain* before I commit to paper. Besides, it’s fewer words.
This is one of the reasons why I find editing invaluable – I mostly ditch all that crap.
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America will sort itself out eventually – I guess
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It’s a guessing game, I guess.
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I suppose so.
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Haha! I agree with you Fandango!
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I guess you made your point 😂
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I use these phrases frequently and deliberately because who can be certain of anything in this crazy world? I’d rather hedge my bets…
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I’m certainly that this is a crazy world.
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Here’s a little something I wrote three years ago yesterday. Hope you enjoy my post.
https://theelephantstrunk.org/2019/08/11/home-of-the-brave/
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Haha love the last sentence… I see what you did there 😉 🙂
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I unequivocally love this post.
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Thanks, Geoff.
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Lol. Squishy words, I like that. I agree, guess is a squishy word!
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Squishy words, what a great term for them!
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