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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

One that comes to mind for me: "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is not always true. Maybe even only half the time! Are there any phrases you tend to hear and shake your head at?

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[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 146 points 2 months ago

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

No. What doesn't kill you creates trauma.

[-] aviationeast@lemmy.world 56 points 2 months ago

Yeah what didn't kill me gave me a chronic disease. I'm weak as hell compared to 3 years ago.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

For me it turned me into a depressed person who no longer feels emotion the way I did before. I'm 99% numb. The other 1% is manic attacks.

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[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 29 points 2 months ago

What doesn't kill you evolves and tries again

[-] juergen@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 2 months ago

In the same vein (and at least as dangerous): "Pain is just weakness leaving the body." No, you testosterone poisoned numb-nuts - it is your body's way of telling you that something is not right. Stop and listen!

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[-] tomkatt@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

I’m a fan of “what doesn’t kill you only serves to postpone the inevitable.” But maybe that’s a bit fatalistic.

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[-] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 117 points 2 months ago

“All’s fair in love and war”

No it isn’t you fucking sociopath

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[-] Boozilla@lemmy.world 102 points 2 months ago

Not a fan of "it is what it is". It's called a thought-terminating cliche. It often means "I'm tired of talking about this, do it my way" when my boss says it.

[-] flerp@lemm.ee 82 points 2 months ago

I've always liked it. I guess it depends who is saying it because when my old boss said it, it meant more like, "this is the situation we're in, let's not waste time arguing about why it is the situation and let's just focus on dealing with it and going forward"

[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago

Yeah it can have wildly different meanings depending on the circumstances in which it's said. It can be "well we can't change it, may as well get on with life" all the way to "well this discussion is not gonna change anything, let's get on with fixing it". Very similar, but polar opposite sentiments.

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[-] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 32 points 2 months ago

,I feel like this one is context dependent. Sometimes it's just acceptance of the situation.

"Wish it weren't so hot outside, but this is Texas in August. It is what it is."

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[-] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

An entirely hollow statement, yet somehow ringing with apathy.

[-] snooggums@midwest.social 29 points 2 months ago
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[-] lady_maria@lemmy.world 87 points 2 months ago

"Everything happens for a reason ."

No. Fuck no, and fuck you. I DARE you to say that to the faces of the endless innocent people—many of whom are CHILDREN—who have been murdered, tortured, abused, enslaved, raped, ect.

[-] Jarix@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago

I hate how people use this but not the phrase itself.

Everything DOES happen for a reason. It's literal, precise, and accurate. Reasons dont need to be mysterious, aloof, or unknowable. They often are because we choose to stop learning but everything does happen for a reason so start looking for better questions

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[-] november@lemmy.vg 70 points 2 months ago

"Grow up and live in the real world" / "Life's not fair" / other thought-terminating cliches used to shut down anyone who wants the world to be a better place than it is. Like, I fucking know it's an unfair place. The whole point is that I would like for it to be less unfair.

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I got told "life isn't fair" so many times growing up, I came up with a default comeback: "Doesn't mean you have to be."

A version of it has grown to became my tenet in life: "The universe doesn't care, so we have to."

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[-] snooggums@midwest.social 64 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"Pull up by the bootstraps"aka bootstrapping was a phrase originally coined to mean something being literally impossible and is now used as a tool to shame the poor for not overcoming nearly impossible social barriers.

"That's just how they are" is always used to excuse bullies for being bullies.

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[-] Hayduke@lemmy.world 53 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"He/she just tells it like it is" No, they are just saying things that resonate with you, but have no actual alignment with data, facts or morality. Simply saying things with no filter doesn't equal "like it is". I find it is usually attributed to, at best, oversimplified or completely ignorant statements, at worst, misleading and/or hateful statements.

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[-] BarrierWithAshes@fedia.io 51 points 2 months ago

Unused ram is wasted ram. Pisses me off to no end. What I do with my ram is my concern, I don't want you bloating up and using it.

[-] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I assumed this was about sheep at first, and was confused and increasingly concerned.

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 19 points 2 months ago

Nah. It's about siege tools.

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[-] wolfeh@lemmy.world 47 points 2 months ago

In response to gross privacy violations from big companies and governments:

"If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear."

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[-] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago

“Quick question” just means you want a quick answer

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[-] dumbass@leminal.space 38 points 2 months ago

"lets agree to disagree"

how about fuck you, one of us is wrong and I want to know which one of us that is!

[-] yeahiknow3@lemmings.world 29 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Most people don’t care about what’s true, something that took me forever to realize. Encountering humanity under the assumption that everyone cares about the truth (or any aspect of empirical and normative reality) is bound to be suuuper confusing until you figure things out. People are literally animals (we forget that), and animals are just trying to survive. Some of them are cute or loving. Not all of them are particularly “good,” and even fewer are willing to sacrifice creature comforts in pursuit of some abstract virtues. That’s why Trump gets any votes.

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[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 34 points 2 months ago
[-] StoneyDcrew@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"God loves you" is fine for me. they are usually simply wishing us happiness in their own way (sure it can be passive-aggressively throw to people they call "sinners" too).

What I really despise is "god has a plan" as words of comfort.

A plan for fucking what? Noahs ark V2? cleverly getting around the "promise not to flood the earth" clause by having greedy assholes pollute the earth in his stead ?

"Ah little 4 year old Andrew would fuck up my plans, better give him cancer... Hm, let's hit Jane with a truck just incase"

I don't appreciate that you somehow think a magic man in the sky planning something so cruel would be of any comfort to me.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 months ago

What I really despise is "god has a plan" as words of comfort.

I got that one a lot after my son killed himself.

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[-] perishthethought@lemm.ee 34 points 2 months ago

I'm sure I'll get guff for this but, "common sense". Throughout my youth, when people told me something was common sense, I usually thought they were wrong.

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[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 32 points 2 months ago

people talking about not being old enough to retire.

Retirement is a function of finance not age.

[-] criticon@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 months ago

You can't take money from certain funds like 401k before reaching certain age without paying hefty penalty tho

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[-] __Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 2 months ago

"it's just a few bad apples"

That's only half the saying. It is used most of the time as if the full thing is "a few bad apples aren't a problem because the rest are fine" rather than the real thing "a few bad apples spoil the lot."

[-] TheRedSpade@lemmy.world 29 points 2 months ago

When you forget what you were about to say:

"Must not have been important"

How in the ever-living fuck could anybody come to that conclusion?

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[-] irotsoma@lemmy.world 27 points 2 months ago

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you numb and traumatized, not stronger. Big difference.

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[-] MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 months ago

"Make America Great Again" 😂🤣

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[-] Bruncvik@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

"No pain, no gain. "

As someone who's been running for over 30 years and working ou for 20, if there is pain, there is injury. When there is injury, you take a break and regress. People may say that muscle pain or stiff muscles are a sign of a good workout, not an injury. However, even with those your risk of injury is much higher, and you'll eventually hurt yourself. "No pain" should be one of the outcomes of smart exercise, not an admonishment for not working hard enough.

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[-] Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

"It's human nature" used to describe something horrific like war or rape.

It's not. Human nature is as when we were children, playing with friends and loving each other.

Militaries have to condition humans to do violence to each other and to follow orders from "superiors". Half of school is quashing kids' creativity and making them follow arbitrary rules because "the adults" say so.

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[-] VinesNFluff@pawb.social 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's been a millenium since I've heard it, as I no longer qualify as young.

But

"You'll understand when you're older"

I'm older.

I'm thirty.

The only thing I "understand" is that all the rules are arbitrary as all fuck, society was made up by idiots with giant sticks up their arses, and everyone should go fuck themselves.

The only "progress" I made is that I stopped hating myself for "failing at society" and started hating society for failing so many people.

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[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 months ago

"Practice makes perfect."

Let me tell you about my 7th grade all county band audition, where I showed up and skillfully played 40 measures of not what the sheet music said because I misread it and practiced what I misread.

"Practice" needs some kind of mechanism for feedback and correction, such as a coach or instructor.

[-] Bojimbo@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

I always liked "practice makes permanent"

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[-] core@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

"to be honest"

So, you've been dishonest until this point?

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 40 points 2 months ago

"To be honest" is mostly used in two situations:

  • to warn the listener that they might not like what they're going to hear; e.g. "to be honest your lasagna is a bit too salty"
  • to highlight an apparent contradiction; e.g. "I like lasagna, but to be honest I'd rather eat pierogi today."

It should almost never be interpreted literally.

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[-] jmsy@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results."

This is literally not the definition of insanity.

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[-] LibreHans@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

The only democracy in the region

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this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
311 points (100.0% liked)

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