# What is Hi Opal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 20, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880 "2002-05-20T01:11:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/1 "2002-05-20T01:11:31Z")
Got a question… What does Hi Opal mean?? Why does everybody say that? I haven’t been on the boards that long and I feel retarted for asking!
---
### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/2 "2002-05-20T01:14:55Z")
**OpalCat** once complained that a numbered list should never have only two members, that it takes more than two elements to be a list. So posters would then add a number three, “Hi, Opal!”, just to make a third item.
It has since shifted to use as the third item in any list. My how usage changes over time!
---
### Author:  [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/3 "2002-05-20T02:08:41Z")
[example]
1. It’s not spelled “retarted.”
2. It’s “retarded.”
3. Hi Opal!
4. You aren’t retarded/retarted/however you want to spell it.
5. We’re just new.
[/example]
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/4 "2002-05-20T02:22:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by blink178 \*
> \*\*Got a question… What does Hi Opal mean?? Why does everybody say that? I haven’t been on the boards that long and I feel retarted for asking! \*\*
It’s a plot…against **you**!
I can prove it.
The phrase “Hi Opal”, or it’s derivatives, only appears on the pages that _you are looking at right that second!_ Scary, huh?
It’s a code we use to mock our witless dupes & hapless victims. That’s you, dude.
Soon, we will come to your house in the night and **then…** :eek:
But enough about routine stuff, how 'bout them Mets, huh? 😃
---
### Author:  [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/5 "2002-05-20T07:28:17Z")
Y’know, this should be added to a FAQ. It’s a question I asked when I first signed up too.
---
### Author:  [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/6 "2002-05-20T07:42:59Z")
It’s a secret on-line handshake of the Illuminati, a subject that fascinates our Perfect Master.
---
### Author:  [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/7 "2002-05-20T12:24:14Z")
Where does the theory about two elements NOT= list come from? Is it a mathematical thing?
---
### Author:  [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/8 "2002-05-20T13:27:58Z")
It’s an old supposedly inside joke that **SO** needs to die.
---
### Author:  [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/9 "2002-05-20T13:36:39Z")
It’s generally used by those with about 200 - 500 posts who know enough to know that it is an inside joke but not enough to know that the old timers are fed up of it.
---
### Author:  [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/10 "2002-05-20T13:40:14Z")
1. this has recently been asked
2. and also answered
3. Hi Opal!
4. Hi blink178!
(a new one!) lets start this new tradition!
---
### Author:  [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/11 "2002-05-20T13:48:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by istara \*
> \*\*Where does the theory about two elements NOT= list come from? Is it a mathematical thing? \*\*
No, I think it’s the same reason why two items aren’t a pile, or a heap, or a collection.
Mathematicians deplore special cases. **I’d** say a list can have 0,1,2,3… etc parts, and I’m working on rational and imaginary sized lists.
Or an infinite list:
[list=1]
[li]Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, and pass it around, aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.[/li][li]Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, and pass it around, aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.[/li][li]Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, and pass it around, aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.[/li][li]Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, and pass it around, aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.[/li][li]Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall. Take one down, and pass it around, aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall.[/li][/list=1]
.
.
.
---
### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/12 "2002-05-20T15:26:53Z")
Yes, it’s a pretty old idea. I wish they would stop doing it, it’s rather pointless & annoying &
serves no useful purpose, if but to define lists 🙂 . Anyone who wants
to say ‘hi’ to her can easily write her email.
---
### Author:  [@doc\_miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doc_miller)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/13 "2002-05-20T15:35:52Z")
I was surprised to see a “Hi Opal” show up on a list at a gaming board (I think Camelot Vault).
So, do any of the old-timers recall who was the first person to use “Hi Opal” to complete a list?
---
### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/14 "2002-05-20T16:55:01Z")
I used it at [Progress Quest](http://progressquest.com/)’s gaming board once. I think I was more amused about it that she was.
Must be hell on the old vanity searches! heh.
---
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/15 "2002-05-20T20:03:30Z")
Actually I can’t remember every searching for my name on the board… I do it on Google though 😉
For a more complete answer, it started like this…
I’ve always been taught that 2 items isn’t a list. Like you aren’t supposed to have 1 and 2 or A and B in an outline without adding 3 or C… if you only have two things you should join them with “and”…
so back in the ice age on AOL I would occassionally start to list things, realize I only had 2 items, and make a bogus 3rd item like “3. well nothing really, but I don’t like lists with only 2 items”
After a while, other people would occassionally tack a bogus 3rd item on their lists to the effect of “3. nothing, but Opal doesn’t like lists with only 2 items”
Time passed. People started just tacking on a bogus third item to 2-item lists with simply “3. Hi Opal”
More time passed. People started using “3. Hi Opal” even on longer lists.
…and it just sort of lingers around.
---
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/16 "2002-05-20T20:06:22Z")
It started back in the AOL Ice Age because I was taught that if you only had 2 items, you used “and” rather than a list format. Sometimes I’d start a post and make a list and then realize I only had 2 items, so I’d add “3. Nothing to add, but it isn’t a list with only 2 items” or something. After a while, other people started doing the same with thier 2-item lists, putting “3. Nothing, but Opal doesn’t like lists with only 2 items.”
Time passed and it was shortened to “3. Hi Opal”, and eventually the number 3 sort of became dedicated to that phrase, even with longer lists.
And it has just sort of lingered as a habit. Not quite sure why.
(eris, actually I’ve never actually searched for my name on the board that I can think of, though I do it from time to time on Google.)
---
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/17 "2002-05-20T20:10:37Z")
Ok no fair!!! The board ate that first post, saying that I wasn’t logged in, so I logged in and re-created it… AFTER first checking to make sure it hadn’t posted!! AND THERE IT IS!!!
I call an official no-fairsies on this one.
---
### Author:  [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/18 "2002-05-20T20:35:49Z")
1. Hi **Opal**!
2. Holy post count, **Handy** - I saw a post somewhere about the fact that you had a lot, but 12,000? In which forum do you post the most? (I’m going to assume you contributed to the popularity of MPSIMS.)
3. Can I go home now?
---
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/19 "2002-05-20T21:24:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Hi Opal
1…err…gasp…choke…can’t…comprehend…
**IMPLODE**
---
### Author:  [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)
#### Post date: [May 20, 2002, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880/20 "2002-05-20T23:25:12Z")
1. Ho
2. Hum
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-hi-opal/109880.md?page=2)