As best as I can tell ...

[GUEST2008]

Hi

Does "as best as I can tell" mean "according to me"?

 

[Richard1]

Hi,

No, not really. When someone uses 'as best as I can tell', it's usually means that they don't know something and they know they don't know. (shades of Rumsfeld ;-) )

'According to me' would necessarily imply the person saying it actually knows a fact.

Regards

 

[SoothingDave]

No, it means that it is the person's opinion given all of the knowledge he has at the moment. It's not a definitive statement, it's a "this is the way I understand it."

 

[GUEST2008]

So it's more like "I think ..."?

 

[bhaisahab]

So it's more like "I think ..."?

Yes, that's right.

 

[Richard1]

Sort of. But maybe even 'I think' is too strong without any additional modification or restriction.

To me 'as best as I can tell' means that I don't really know for a fact but on the evidence I have then I prefer this explanation to that explanation.

Not sure if I'm conveying the right subtlety here but I hope you get the idea.

Regards

 

[bhaisahab]

Sort of. But maybe even 'I think' is too strong without any additional modification or restriction.

To me 'as best as I can tell' means that I don't really know for a fact but on the evidence I have then I prefer this explanation to that explanation.

Not sure if I'm conveying the right subtlety here but I hope you get the idea.

Regards

In other words "I think...(but I'm not sure)"