As far as you know

There are several words and phrases that can serve as a response to absolutely any statement, question, exclamation or other utterance. It can be kind of fun to try to find them and use them in various situations (just be careful to avoid being that guy.) The idea is not to say the same thing over and over again, but to have an arsenal of things to say when most other responses would be inappropriate or impossible. There are two categories into which such words and phrases can fall. The first is the confusion-based group, which includes such favorites as "Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" and "Are your gastrointestinal problems getting worse?." The idea here is that the phrase does not have to make any sense at all in the context of a conversation. This group is put to good use in situations like this one.

The second category is my favorite of the two: the ToK-based group. These are the generic responses which ask the recipient to consider the deeper implications of what he or she has just said, tell him or her to "prove it," etc. My favorite of these is "Arguably," as it turns out that in fact every statement you hear on a daily basis is - at some level - arguable. The favorite of our good friend Harvey is the title, "As far as you know." I encourage to try these out for yourself, and leave a comment if you come up with any of your own. It's especially fun to get friends to try to come up with an utterance which cannot be answered with a ToK-based generic response; I often play this Game in the lunch line, and it is indeed quite entertaining. May the mass times acceleration be with you.