Just sayin’. . . I read an article that was extremely critical, strongly disapproving of the slang expression, ‘Just sayin’. Its origin wasn’t confirmed, only that it likely came from a standup comedy routine, Eddie Murphy or Seinfeld maybe. The critic likened it to a, get out of jail free card. It allows you to be rude/insulting with no consequence. At the end of the insult you dangle the disclaimer, get off the hook without owning the insult. I never gave it much thought. I’ve been using it in my journal as sort of a category, a way to say, “. . .what do I know?” My ego isn’t that big and my observations can stray off the beaten path. Then all I’m guilty of is making noise. Sometimes I play the devil’s advocate. But I can’t remember a time when I didn’t take credit/blame for what I put out in the mainstream. Still, I’m not a standup comic. But it has me thinking again. Should I abandon ‘Just sayin’ in favor of something more appropriate, maybe something borrowed like, ‘In the beginning . . .’
It has always been easy to lift a few words or a phrase from the text that gives a clue. You can, if you actually read for content, rediscover the title somewhere in the text. But who reads that close anyway. . .just sayin’. There, I did it. I insulted casual, speed readers for not being more dedicated. I am guilty of that myself so I can play the ‘just sayin’ card. All that for what: what if the writer was up against a deadline and had nothing, writers block, whatever? A clever writer can be for or against anything, sort of like lawyers. Guilty or innocent, we don't care, just want to win, meet the deadline.
I will be truly liberated when we get a safe, effective vaccine for Covid. I will be able to go places and irritate people in person, without clever rhetoric. Stuck in front of the computer is better than on a ventilator so I’ll take some comfort there, continue to stay at home and make excuses for not having more/better to say.
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