# What does "Hi, Opal" mean ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [August 3, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147 "2004-08-03T15:48:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/1 "2004-08-03T15:48:34Z")
I keep seeing this in threads.
It makes no sense. It must be some sort of in-joke.
Anyone ?
---
### Author:  [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/2 "2004-08-03T16:00:01Z")
**Achilles**
Get ready for a pile on. There’s a bunch o’ folks here who get apoplectic over this question. It’s been done to death and questioned to death.
Short form:
A poster named Opalcat (or was she just Opal on AOL?) once posted that you can never have a list shorter than 3 items.
This list:
- Item 1
- Item 2
should be stated as Item 1 or Item 2. Shortly thereafter, anyone posting a list of 2 items, lengthened it to 3 by adding “Hi Opal!” as the 3rd item.
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Hi Opal!
---
### Author:  [@Achilles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achilles)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/3 "2004-08-03T16:10:41Z")
Oh,
That’s not so funny. Not to me, anyway.
Thanks for the info.
Let’s put this baby to bed and avoid that pile-on !
---
### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/4 "2004-08-03T16:10:42Z")
I don’t suppose a Mod wants to make this a sticky?
---
### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/5 "2004-08-03T16:30:44Z")
The sad, pathetic, inbred part of the joke is that the “Hi, Opal!” only really works when you have a list of two things. You will see people posting a list like
1. A
2. B
3. Hi, Opal!
4. C
when it could just have been
1. A
2. B
3. C
and Opal wouldn’t have minded. Irony wept.
---
### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/6 "2004-08-05T00:56:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t suppose a Mod wants to make this a sticky?
Good Christ, why?
---
### Author:  [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/7 "2004-08-05T01:04:05Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#):
>
> Good Christ, why?
I had exactly the same question. I did a search, but it yielded nothing. Then I saw this post in here. I still think it is too stupid to make it a sticky 😛
---
### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/8 "2004-08-05T03:43:19Z")
How about a sticky that lists ALL the freakin inside jokes. Bring Pie, All your base, 1920s, Opal, feltching, gophers, gerbils. EVERYTHING. That would be informative. Then newbies wont be in the dark, and they wont have to ask. If the answer isn’t on the front page, they have to ask because they can’t search.
---
### Author:  [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/9 "2004-08-05T04:41:57Z")
Aw, come on.
Half the fun of seeing something like that is actually SPENDING your five bucks.
I wasn’t around for the start of “Hi, Opal!” but context made it make sense. But those inane sayings that I DID get to watch grow, well, there’s something to be said for the joy of discovery- and far be it from any of us to take away from that joy by bursting the metaphorical balloon (or pulling back the metaphorical curtain, or whatever other metaphor you like) of the newbie who says, “Everybody keeps talking about this ‘pie.’ What means this ‘pie?’”
They bought the search function. If that search function leads 'em to the Time Cube or allows them to say “woooo! I am masurbating like a MOTHER FUCK!!!” in a crowd, then their money is well-spent.
The in-jokes are in-jokes for a reason.
**Eve** is **Eve** because she’s earned the right to be. As has \*\*Master Wang-Ka \*\* (and others who I’m omitting, but these are two of my faves). And all of us who aspire to be as well-known as they are don’t want to earn our fame/notoriety because somebody saw us on some FAQ and decided to piggyback.
This is a community. And it requires a bit of an acclimation period. And that’s half the fun of joining a community.
Ain’t no power-leveling in the SDMB, baby. Believe me, I know.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/10 "2004-08-05T06:24:14Z")
I have been here for a long time, but even I don’t know what “bring pie” is- well as in “in joke” anyway. 😕
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/11 "2004-08-05T07:30:10Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#):
>
> How about a sticky that lists ALL the freakin inside jokes. Bring Pie, All your base, 1920s, Opal, feltching, gophers, gerbils. EVERYTHING. That would be informative. Then newbies wont be in the dark, and they wont have to ask. If the answer isn’t on the front page, they have to ask because they can’t search.
There’s a webpage that lists most, if not all, of those jokes.
---
### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/12 "2004-08-05T10:35:09Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#):
>
> Good Christ, why?
So then we don’t get newbies all asking the same thing.
---
### Author:  [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/13 "2004-08-05T12:37:36Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#):
>
> So then we don’t get newbies all asking the same thing.
But Achilles had been around for a year!
But now he’s banned. Maybe we shouldn’t share the secrets…
---
### Author:  [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/14 "2004-08-05T12:59:03Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> I have been here for a long time, but even I don’t know what “bring pie” is…
**When come back bring pie.**
The phrase originated when a Doper posted a link to this [Weeble and Bob](http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm) episode. It also spawned “mmmmmm! pie.” What does it all mean? Damned if I know. (Yet, on the offhand chance that someone might bring pie… my personal preference is blueberry ala mode.)
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#):
>
> How about a sticky that lists ALL the freakin inside jokes.
I actually created a long list of these “in phrases” with some explanation and links to the threads they originally appeared in. I asked The Powers That Be if it’d be appropriate to put my list in a sticky thread and they respectfully declined. IIRC, the reasoning for the decision was something along the lines of not wanting to resurrect all this stuff again.
---
### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/15 "2004-08-05T13:40:30Z")
> [@Algernon](#):
>
> **When come back bring pie.**
> The phrase originated when a Doper posted a link to this [Weeble and Bob](http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm) episode. It also spawned “mmmmmm! pie.”
Hmmmm … did Weebl and Bob rip off _The Simpsons_? “Mmmm … \” is definitely a Homerism. Homer’s delivery of the line is different, though.
---
### Author:  [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/16 "2004-08-05T13:45:25Z")
My post was unclear **bordelond**.
The “Mmmmmm… pie” was spawned by Dopers as they referred to the “when come back bring pie” Weeble and Bob episode. Given the popularity of the Simpsons on the SDMB I am quite sure it was Homer inspired.
---
### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/17 "2004-08-05T21:25:10Z")
What might be more interesting is its penetration to other communities, since it’s clearly an in joke that started here, as opposed to those other catch phrases. Anytime a group starts using a catch phrase derived from some outside pop cultural source, like an online comic strip, it’s a safe bet that it’s being picked up by another group as well.
Googling for “hi, opal”, and picking out uses as a list item, rather than a salutation for an actual person named opal, I find:
1 [http://eqbeastiary.allakhazam.com/search.shtml?zone=71&mid=98499037745604](http://eqbeastiary.allakhazam.com/search.shtml?zone=71&mid=98499037745604)
2 [http://www.bianca.com/shack/parlor/questions/posts/2002\_Dec\_07/75765/75769.html](http://www.bianca.com/shack/parlor/questions/posts/2002_Dec_07/75765/75769.html)
3 [http://sterlingnorth.livejournal.com/3171.html](http://sterlingnorth.livejournal.com/3171.html)
4 [http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10&start=0](http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=10&start=0)
5 [http://thebruces.stormbirds.org/forum/showpost.php?p=35537&postcount=18](http://thebruces.stormbirds.org/forum/showpost.php?p=35537&postcount=18)
6 [http://www.asmallvictory.net/archives/cat\_open\_mic\_night.html](http://www.asmallvictory.net/archives/cat_open_mic_night.html)
That’s screening out known (to me) “SDMB Universe” boards, like fathom. 4, of course, is the site of the “bad astronomer”, who is a member here, and 5 points to an explanation of the gag by (presumably our) **Polycarp** , after it had apparently been used elsewhere in the thread. Can everything on that list be recognized as 1 degree of separation from the SDMB?
---
### Author:  [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/18 "2004-08-05T21:43:40Z")
**yabob** , that’s an interesting piece of research.
In a similar vein, when I was doing investigation into the various SDMB catch phrases, I was surprised to find that “gotch ya” turned up hundreds of references outside of the SDMB, with many of them pre-dating **Wildest Bill’s** use of it back in 2001.
For those interested in this hijack, here is the scoop on the “gotch ya” SDMB etymology that I uncovered…
“Gotcha Ya” is a phrase used by **Wildest Bill** in a 2001 in [a thread describing his plans for his funeral](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=80870). He used it inadvertently when he intended a simple “gotcha”, but the silly sounding redundant phrase spread like wildfire through the SDMB community, due to, in my opinion, **Eve’s** hilarious riposte in the thread (which befittingly has been resurrected more than once).
---
### Author:  [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/19 "2004-08-05T23:25:24Z")
And Achilles, why did you shorten what was (is?) probably the most notorious of all the “in-jokes”:
**"1920’s Style Death Rays"**
The “thread that started it all” went over 1,000 postings before the moderators shut it down. I’d tell you why it was shut down, but then the moderators would probably delete this posting. Yeah we unearthed some _very_ fascinating facts. Since I value my life I’ll just leave it at that.
* * *
Here’s another running joke - adding “ **Electric Boogaloo** ” to the end of a Part 2 movie sequel title. At least it _started_ that way. Now it seems it pops up just about anytime somebody feels like it. Something like:
Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason - Electric Boogaloo”
A movie sequel actually had those 2 words in its sequel title.
[Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086999/)
* * *
Now that I think of it, there is a third in-joke I wanted to discuss. I forget now.
Well, I’ll just leave it blank.
3)
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147/20 "2004-08-05T23:40:11Z")
“Pulling up a lawn chair”- used in the PIT to describe a fight that you had no dog in, but looked like it might be fun to watch.
Some wanted it banned. I dunno if it got that far.
“Mmmmmm… pie” is actually a line in that silly cartoon. Several times.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hi-opal-mean/258147.md?page=2)