# Board-related question: Where did '3. Hi Opal!' come from?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 21, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374 "2001-02-21T20:45:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374/1 "2001-02-21T20:45:49Z")

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On the off-chance the entire title doesn’t show up, it’s “Board-related question: Where did ‘3. Hi Opal!’ come from?”

Sometimes on Da Board, when someone makes a list, number three on the list is “Hi Opal!” Who originated this, and (if possible) why?

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### Author: ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374/2 "2001-02-21T20:54:20Z")

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Might I recommend:

1. Learning that the SDMB search is your friend

2. Viewing this thread: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=51051](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=51051)

3. Hi Opal!

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### Author: ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2001, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374/3 "2001-02-21T20:56:30Z")

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OpalCat is a longtime reg who has a pet peeve about people here makings lists containing only two items. Thus was created “3. Hi Opal!”

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### Author: ![Yue\_Han](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/eada6e/32.png) [@Yue\_Han](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yue_Han)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374/4 "2001-02-21T20:57:53Z")

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Opal once said that a list isn’t a list if it only has two items. So people started making three item lists that said

1. X
2. Y
3. Hi Opal.

This caught on and got used in places where the original objection didn’t apply.

1. A
2. B
3. Hi Opal.
4. C

–John

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### Author: ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/board-related-question-where-did-3-hi-opal-come-from/55374/5 "2001-02-21T23:37:05Z")

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Since this question is asked and answered, and because there are several versions of the question already in ATMB, I’m going to close this thread.

Thanks for the responses, all.