Bipeds can be such odd creatures, really.
Take labels for example: someone does something when he or she is young (or not), and then he or she gets to hear or read about it for aeons (here, I'm thinking of young actors and actresses who grow up and have fantastic careers, but who keep being identified as "that person from film XYZ (that was shot in 1914 and we're now in 2123, but never mind, and let's keep focussing on that, shall we?)".)
And that works for everybody: we all have relatives (them, again) and/or friends who focus on one tiny part of a thing we did years ago, and who keep mentioning it over and over again. It can be "that job you hated and yet didn't leave", "that person you were dating and didn't dump" or "that stupid thing you did and that we'll keep talking about until after your funeral".
That's highly annoying, but extremely common (I guess because no one fights against "Bullying Light" - and probably because all the bipeds doing that feel so much better when they can make others feel uncomfortable).
There's another odd thing that many people do, and which, I just bet, they don't even spot themselves (for most of them: I'm not counting the twisted, cunning ones, who do know). That's the habit of spewing something that they see as a truth (usually a nasty one) - e.g.: 'You're useless.', only to quickly add the magic formula that, they think, is going to keep them out of trouble - e.g.: 'I'm joking!'
When anyone ends a sentence by "I'm just joking", my brain goes on Red Alert because these words very, very, very seldom really mean what they're supposed to. Anyone uttering that is someone I'll be extremely wary of (to say the least).
In my book, it's not a magic formula, it's a massive warning. When I hear these words, it translates in my head as "I don't have the guts to tell you what I really think, so I'm going to pretend to make a joke, and if you hate it (and me), I'll insist on the fact that - honest to God - it was just a joke".
Not buying that. Sorry - and when I say "sorry", it's just that I wasn't raised in a barn, because that kind of chickenshit is not fooling me one bit.
Sooooorry.
4 comments:
There is a family member who is know as not just 'janet' but as 'janet smith' (not the real name) which is the maiden name, we don't have any other 'janets' in the family so why she is known by this I don't know, but she got married in the 1940's and is mid 80's now and lost her husband (my uncle) in the last year or so. but even though she has been family for so long and there is no others (we do have a selection of peter's in the family) she is still called 'Janet Smith' which is cruel and strange to me. but that old phrase makes so much sense, you can choose your friends but not your family!
Oh... I know the "Janet Smith" phenomenon. My blood relatives tend to keep referring to the "new" members of the family as "the added item", which isn't nice either.
It'd be cool if we all considered all people as "relatives", and we were all kind to one another...
For the moment, friends are just awesome. ;)
humm some of my relatives are nuts! one even got the prenom of Nutty! as a child we had aunt this and uncle that oh and nutty her as well... I am happy to treat all as friends, not sure I could cope with 'relatives' ;-)
Relatives can be sooooo strange.
Friends are muuuuuuch better.
;)
Post a Comment