# Is "humble opinion" an oxymoron? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916 "2013-01-11T23:58:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/21 "2013-01-15T12:35:49Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I just read in a post that someone said someone else had “correct opinions.” Is that a possible thing? I’ve only ever used that phrase as a joke. I.E. when somebody agrees with my opinion on something I might say their opinion is “correct” despite it being, well, subjective. The only other time I use it is if somebody states a fact with “in my opinion” e.g. “in my opinion, the net energy of an isolated system never decreases.” I’m not sure what the context you saw it in was, but I suspect they were making a joke because having a “correct opinion” is, indeed, impossible. … unless **you’re** joking and I just got wooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/22 "2013-01-15T18:24:24Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I just read in a post that someone said someone else had “correct opinions.” Is that a possible thing? In my opinion, yes. 😉 If I say, about a particular piece of proposed legislation, “In my opinion, this is a bad law. It would have disastrous effects on the nation.” (And maybe I’d go into more detail about what disastrous effects I had in mind.) That’s the sort of opinion about which I might well be correct, or incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/23 "2013-01-15T19:15:10Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > In my opinion, yes. 😉 > > If I say, about a particular piece of proposed legislation, “In my opinion, this is a bad law. It would have disastrous effects on the nation.” (And maybe I’d go into more detail about what disastrous effects I had in mind.) That’s the sort of opinion about which I might well be correct, or incorrect. “It’s bad” is an opinion, and can’t be correct or incorrect (somebody may think ill effects are good). “It will have disastrous effects” is a statement of fact that can be true or false (or be unknowable). Well, okay, the word “disastrous” is a bit of a connotative word, but the general implication that the action will cause an outcome contrary to its intent is factual at least. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/24 "2013-01-15T19:55:04Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > “It will have disastrous effects” is a statement of fact that can be true or false (or be unknowable). Okay, question for logicians, etc.: Are statements about what _will_ happen statements of fact, or statements of opinion, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/25 "2013-01-15T20:06:33Z")
There’s an entire class of [Temporal Logics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_logic) which deal with things like “until” or “in the future”. In fact, it’s the source of one of the more infamous and troublesome logical conundrums known as the [Yale Shooting Problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_shooting_problem). But in general, we can even use it in propositional logic, the problem is you need a separate atom for every state of every object at every point in time. The problem with real life is more that the statement “X will be true in Y \ if Z happens” is a bit of a pain to evaluate in a formal manner given the complexity of real life. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916/26 "2013-01-15T20:09:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Okay, question for logicians, etc.: Are statements about what _will_ happen statements of fact, or statements of opinion, or something else? It largely depends on context, but doesn’t exclude the potential for more than one. -“_The sun will rise, tomorrow._”\<- That’s pretty much an agreeable fact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-humble-opinion-an-oxymoron/646916.md?page=1)