Doesn’t go well with your whole “we’re not a cult” thing. Just saying.
I’m a non-native English speaker. Can you explain to me what’s the intended connotations for the sentence “just saying” here? Is someone supposed to be less offended by the potentially offensive previous statement?
(Short version: Yes, you’ve basically got the intended meaning right, but this
figure of speech has its detractors who don’t like its use as an all-purpose
escape hatch. End of short version. For what it’s worth I’m not one of the
aforementioned detractors. My translation of the phrase is: “What I just said
was intended not as an insult or provocation, but as a factual observation,
and I’m letting you know that in a mildly humorous way by using a current
figure of speech.”)
Are you possibly generalizing from one example/committing a fundamental attribution error?
I’m a non-native English speaker. Can you explain to me what’s the intended connotations for the sentence “just saying” here? Is someone supposed to be less offended by the potentially offensive previous statement?
“Just saying” / “I’m just sayin’”:
Urban Dictionary
Mark Liberman from Language Log
Scott Simon editorial from the radio show Weekend Edition Saturday
(Short version: Yes, you’ve basically got the intended meaning right, but this figure of speech has its detractors who don’t like its use as an all-purpose escape hatch. End of short version. For what it’s worth I’m not one of the aforementioned detractors. My translation of the phrase is: “What I just said was intended not as an insult or provocation, but as a factual observation, and I’m letting you know that in a mildly humorous way by using a current figure of speech.”)
Edit: Bonus fun link: Here’s the song “Punch Bowl” by Punch Brothers, which uses the “I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’” variant of this phrase.
Edit 2: My Mom says she only likes this phrase when it’s used by an animal.