If you are talking to someone who knows something that you do not, it is crucial that you learn everything they know. This is the case especially when you have to navigate something in context, meaning that the decisions you choose to make or not make depend on what you know.
Politics is a field in which decisions are almost always made in context. You have to know how the things that you choose will affect other people and other situations. In these cases, you can only hope that your advisors will tell you everything they know.
Even if they do not have a full understanding of something, they may use IMK to make sure you know what they are saying.
IMK means in my knowledge
This is another way to say “as far as I know”, “apparently”, or “based on my knowledge”. This is basically used to qualify your knowledge, indicating to the listener or reader that you do not know everything.
However, what you are about to tell them is the truth, as much as you can describe based on the knowledge you have. Using this IMK abbreviation means that, if you do something wrong based on their information, you cannot blame that single person because they have already told you everything they know.
Because you do not know everything, there are times that you may come to the wrong conclusions, or focus too much on one part of the problem rather than the whole situation. However, if you have several people who can tell you what they have in their knowledge, you should be able to understand a significant portion of the problem.
Examples
- I can’t tell you for certain, but IMK, the company is trying to force the vice principal out because she is trying to do things incompatible with the school.
- Did you hear about the Christmas party? IMK, we are all going to get great bonuses!
Dialogue
Judy: Frank, can you give me an overview of the school board’s position on the new policy about visitors? Are they going to pass it or not?
Frank: Sure. I actually was just going to meet with Allison to get an update, but IMK they are still pretty torn about it. Requiring a picture ID is a good way to increase safety, but it could be abused.
Judy: Darn, I thought they would already be leaning towards a decision. So what do you mean by abusing the picture ID system?
Frank: Well, it could become a political issue when certain types of picture IDs count for checking in, and certain other types do not. But again, this is just IMK. I am not sure about whether this is a major point of contention or just something that they were discussing.
Judy: Got it. So it looks like if we want to influence them one way or another, we have to tackle this problem first. Please keep me updated!
Frank: You got it. I’ll talk to you after Allison updates me!
Notes on Usage
Like many other abbreviations, this one is limited primarily to texting or writing online. This is an informal way to say that your information is incomplete, so you could use it when talking to someone you are close with. However, I would recommend that you not use it when discussing an issue with your boss at work.
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Empathy Definition. What does Empathy mean?
What does Go Bonkers mean? Go Bonkers Definition.
