# Why do the members say this?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [March 4, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740 "2001-03-04T19:22:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eirroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eirroc)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/1 "2001-03-04T19:22:32Z")
Hope I’m posting this in the right place but I need to know the answer to this its driving me crazy! When they set out points they say:
1 blah blah
2blah blah
3Hi Opal! \< ~~~~~~??
why?
Please help so I can once again sleep at night. 😉
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/2 "2001-03-04T20:01:05Z")
This has been asked approximnately 487 times in the last 2 weeks. Please do a search of the archives before posting a new thread.
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### Author:  [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/3 "2001-03-04T20:25:57Z")
I’m too lazy to search the archives, because searching for “Hi, Opal!” would probably result in 80 threads, which I would waste time scrolling through for the line, only to find that half of them don’t have an explanation. This should go in that new/improved FAQ we keep talking about…
Long, long ago, in a galaxy not unlike our own, Ms. [OpalCat](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php?action=getinfo&username=OpalCat) made a list that went something likes this:
[ol]
[li]George Washington[/li][li]Abraham Lincoln[/li][li]Nothing, I just don’t like lists with only two items.[/li][/ol]
Ever since then, people have made lists with only two items and paid homage to Opal in the third item. Sometimes, people even make lists with more than three items, but still put Opal as the third. Anthracite even parodied this in a recent thread, with #10 as “Hi, Fierra!”. Finding this thread shall be an exercise for the reader. =)
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### Author:  [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/4 "2001-03-04T20:29:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Please do a search of the archives before posting a new thread.
Something for **eirroc** to keep in mind for the future, but this thread has already been posted.
My understanding of the matter is that at some point deep in the SDMB past **OpalCat** objected to lists of less than three items. Some people picked this up and started putting “hi, Opal” as the third item in lists–a form of mild humor. Nowadays it survives as a somewhat obscure tradition that baffles hell out of newcomers.
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### Author:  [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/5 "2001-03-04T20:31:56Z")
Then there’s the tradition of futzing around with your replies long enough that someone else has already answered the question, which also may baffle hell out of newcomers.
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### Author:  [@eirroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eirroc)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2001, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/6 "2001-03-04T20:44:46Z")
Thankyou 🙂
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2001, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/7 "2001-03-05T08:47:21Z")
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again… I refuse to do the “Hi Opal!” thing. I’ve done it once, and only once. I have nothing against Opal, and nothing against traditions.
I’m just painfully nonconformist. 😃
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### Author:  [@cheezit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheezit)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2001, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/8 "2001-03-05T14:20:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly \*
> \*\*
>
> I’m just painfully nonconformist. 😃 \*\*
Hear! Hear! :D:D
Hi, Opal. (I’m **such** a buffoon.) 😃
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### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/9 "2001-03-06T03:30:17Z")
Has anyone ever found this mythical post where she complained about this? Or is it lost to the ether?
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### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/10 "2001-03-06T05:02:56Z")
It wasn’t one post, it was many, many posts. They are lost because they were all on the long-dead AOL message board. The “Hi, Opal” thing started long before the AOL board died, actually.
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### Author:  [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)
#### Post date: [March 6, 2001, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-the-members-say-this/56740/11 "2001-03-06T10:21:52Z")
1. Hi, **SPOOFE**!