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For what it is worth

Posted by R. Berg on May 30, 2001

In Reply to: For what it is worth posted by patti on May 30, 2001

: can someone please elucidate "for what it is worth"? how should it be perceived?

As implying "What I'm saying isn't worth much" or "This may not help, but . . ." or "This may not be relevant, but maybe you can extract some guidance from it" or "This goes partway toward a conclusion but doesn't prove the case."

Some people say "for what it's worth" incessantly, until you want to scream. A friend of mine had a job where her supervisor did that. Finally (just short of the screaming stage) my friend asked her "What IS it worth?" The supervisor said "What's WHAT worth?" Apparently her habit was completely unconscious. So sometimes "for what it's worth" doesn't mean anything.

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