# This - What does it mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376 "2009-09-24T15:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/41 "2009-09-27T10:19:19Z")
Similar to IMHO for in my humble opinion. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/42 "2009-09-27T15:29:00Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > What do you mean by “adding a bit of humility to the post”? Do you mean that a poster says, “Here is my opinion about the subject of the thread. Oh, and incidentally, I’m a very humble person.” What would a statement like that add to a thread? Why would it advance the discussion of a subject for a poster to tell what his own personality is like? Why does a little self-deprecation get your panties in a twist? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/43 "2009-09-28T03:36:06Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > What do you mean by “adding a bit of humility to the post”? Do you mean that a poster says, “Here is my opinion about the subject of the thread. Oh, and incidentally, I’m a very humble person.” What would a statement like that add to a thread? Why would it advance the discussion of a subject for a poster to tell what his own personality is like? I think Twicks pretty well spelled out that angle of it. A person is offering his opinion, but doesn’t want to pick a fight over it. Like IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/44 "2009-09-28T14:14:22Z")
A truly humble person doesn’t have to announce that they’re humble. Their humility will be obvious from what they post. There are two kinds of threads - those in which facts are asked for and those in which opinions are asked for. In a fact thread, someone shouldn’t be offering their opinion. In a opinion thread, it’s not necessary to say that it’s an opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/45 "2009-09-28T14:43:55Z")
Harrumph!!! ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/46 "2009-09-28T14:52:22Z")
WTF is QFT? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/47 "2009-09-28T14:53:30Z")
QFT: Quoted For Truth ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/48 "2009-09-28T15:22:10Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > This is probably the 5th time or so that I’ve seen someone asking what it means when someone quotes a post and writes, “This”, under it. > > What exactly is unclear about this practice that it confuses people? Why does it need to be explained in the first place? It seems like something that should be no less clear than if you go to the Wikipedia and see a picture of some animal and under it, it has a caption saying, “Deer”. I’d generally have no problem getting the idea that the animal in the picture was something called a “deer”. There’s nothing subtle about “This”. Well, I consider myself a reasonalbly intelligent person, and I couldn’t figure out what the hell it meant. Intuitively, it means nothing. It has since been explained rather well by the posts above yours. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/49 "2009-09-28T15:29:38Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > It is really damn lazy; it seems to serve no purpose other than to pad post counts. You can also include “QFT”. I use _this_ from time to time, and padding my post count is the furthest thing from my mind. To me it means “Not only do I agree with the sentiment in the quoted post, I find its phrasing considerably more concise and eloquent than I am likely to be able to achieve.” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/50 "2009-09-28T15:38:09Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > A truly humble person doesn’t have to announce that they’re humble. Their humility will be obvious from what they post. There are two kinds of threads - those in which facts are asked for and those in which opinions are asked for. In a fact thread, someone shouldn’t be offering their opinion. In a opinion thread, it’s not necessary to say that it’s an opinion. That’s not true. Phrases like “I think”, “in my humble opinion”, and “I believe” are all very important in letting the reader know that what follows is not intended to be taken as fact. The idea that a thread will or should consist exclusively of either fact or opinion is ridiculous. Fact is the foundation upon which opinion is built; any thread asking for facts is likely to have a smattering of opinion and any thread asking for opinions should have a good dose of fact. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376/51 "2009-09-28T17:09:47Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > In a fact thread, someone shouldn’t be offering their opinion. But this is a fact thread: “This - what does it mean?”, and yet you’ve offered many opinions. There’s actually a formal definition of “fact” in philosophy, and all facts are a priori. Which reminds me of a favorite quote by Werner Heisenberg: “The atoms or the elementary particles are not real; they form a world of potentialities and possibilities rather than one of things or facts.” 'Course, he knew what a fact was. Philosophically speaking. The greatest scientists understand the epistemic underpinnings of their field of study. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-what-does-it-mean/511376.md?page=2)