A useful Southern expression which sometimes follows outspoken criticism is I'm just sayin'. To be more thorough, a speaker can also insert bless his heart before his or her negative comments. The combination of the two, as in Bless her heart, she just doesn't know what she's doin'-I'm just sayin', can be powerful in a genteel sort of way. The idea, of course, is to get one's opinion known to others without accepting full responsibility for the words. These expressions are designed to lessen the impact of certain statements, but all words have consequences, no matter how sugar-coated they might be. And the business world is not as forgiving as polite Southern society.
展开▼
