"I Have No Idea"

- by -

Bob Bishop

Perhaps you've heard (or even engaged in) conversations in which the following kind of dialog took place:

John: "Where did our cat disappear to? She was just here a minute ago."
Mary: "I have no idea where the cat is. She probably went into the kitchen."
Now just think about that for a minute. Mary first says that she has "no idea" where the cat might be. And then, in the very same breath, she immediately contradicts herself by expressing an idea of where the cat might be!

It seems to have become a popular misconception that the phrase: "I have no idea" is synonymous with the phrase: "I don't know", when in fact they each have quite different meanings.

Suppose I were to say to you:

"I'm thinking of something. What is it?"
In that case, you would probably be justified in replying with "I have no idea." After all, I could be thinking of just about anything... (a color, a city in China, or even what I had for lunch last week).

But instead, if I were to say to you:

"I'm thinking of a whole number between one and five. What number is it?"
Now you would not be justified in replying with "I have no idea." Because you would know that I'm not thinking about a color, a city in China, or anything else like that. Instead, you would know that I'm thinking of a number, and you would know that the number is either a two, a three, or a four. So even though you might not "know" the exact number, you would at least know that it can be only one of three possibilities. (And that's a far cry from having "no idea" at all!)

In conclusion, I would have to say that this whole matter is merely symptomatic of an even bigger issue: We, as a society, tend to overly exaggerate in our speech. How many times have you heard (or used) expressions like: "That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my whole life!", or "I absolutely adore your new shoes!" It's no wonder that, when something truly extraordinary occurs, we have to resort to saying: "Words can't express how I feel." Because the words that could have expressed those feelings have been overly used and inappropriately exaggerated to the point that they are now practically meaningless.

I wonder if any of what I've said here will make a difference to society. Is anybody even reading this web page? I have no idea.