My dear friends,

I delight in reading the posts of so many and for so long here at this site, but I must comment on something that has become an irritation. It is the over usage of the phrase "That being said" in so many posts. While its not just a TFN issue, it certainly is unavoidable here.

According to my rough calculations, a significantly measurable amount of network bandwidth can be freed up globally simply be leaving out the phrase "That being said" and its popular variant, "That said" when posting. Bandwidth reduction improves network speed and reduces cost.

The expression "That being said" states that what has just been said has been said. Follow what I am saying? It somehow manages to be even more unnecessarily wordy and pretentious as the infamous "however" and the pervasive nuisance of "nevertheless", which also convey little if any information most but not all of the time.

I'm not saying that "that being said" doesn't have its place and time, like "suffice to say". I could have begun this paragraph with it or even "having said that", but I do not believe that my point has been compromised in any way by not doing so. My personal opinion is that the phrase need not be in every third post. If absolutely necessary, at least throw in the occasional variation of the filler such as "knowing that","truth be told","on the subject of", "all things considered", "taking into consideration" or even "on the other hand". Or merely just to save bandwidth, stick to just a plain "yet".

Sincerely,
random TFN poster


ehhhh...the Senate isn't really for debating word choices...