Why do the members say this?

[eirroc]

Hope I'm posting this in the right place but I need to know the answer to this its driving me crazy! When they set out points they say:

1 blah blah
2blah blah
3Hi Opal! <~~~~~~ ??
why?
Please help so I can once again sleep at night. ;)

[August West]

This has been asked approximnately 487 times in the last 2 weeks. Please do a search of the archives before posting a new thread.

[StephenG]

I'm too lazy to search the archives, because searching for "Hi, Opal!" would probably result in 80 threads, which I would waste time scrolling through for the line, only to find that half of them don't have an explanation. This should go in that new/improved FAQ we keep talking about...

Long, long ago, in a galaxy not unlike our own, Ms. OpalCat (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&username=OpalCat) made a list that went something likes this:

George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Nothing, I just don't like lists with only two items.


Ever since then, people have made lists with only two items and paid homage to Opal in the third item. Sometimes, people even make lists with more than three items, but still put Opal as the third. Anthracite even parodied this in a recent thread, with #10 as "Hi, Fierra!". Finding this thread shall be an exercise for the reader. =)

[MysterEcks]

Please do a search of the archives before posting a new thread.

Something for eirroc to keep in mind for the future, but this thread has already been posted.

My understanding of the matter is that at some point deep in the SDMB past OpalCat objected to lists of less than three items. Some people picked this up and started putting "hi, Opal" as the third item in lists--a form of mild humor. Nowadays it survives as a somewhat obscure tradition that baffles hell out of newcomers.

[MysterEcks]

Then there's the tradition of futzing around with your replies long enough that someone else has already answered the question, which also may baffle hell out of newcomers.

[eirroc]

Thankyou :)

[SPOOFE]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again... I refuse to do the "Hi Opal!" thing. I've done it once, and only once. I have nothing against Opal, and nothing against traditions.

I'm just painfully nonconformist. :D

[cheezit]

Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly


I'm just painfully nonconformist. :D


Hear! Hear! :D:D

Hi, Opal. (I'm such a buffoon.) :D

[SmackFu]

Has anyone ever found this mythical post where she complained about this? Or is it lost to the ether?

[OpalCat]

It wasn't one post, it was many, many posts. They are lost because they were all on the long-dead AOL message board. The "Hi, Opal" thing started long before the AOL board died, actually.

[Dijon Warlock]

1. Hi, SPOOFE!