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Annoying things that people say

electra

A question for the autsitc people on the forums:

What figures of speech or expressions really bug you? For me its when people say 'You're joking!' when I've just told them something serious and am clearly not joking.

For instance I'll tell my boss that a bit of equipment has broken down and what does he say? 'You're joking!'. Why does he keep doing this, there's nothing remotely humourous in what I've said and I'm waiting for his instructions on what to do! And its not rhetorical because he waits for a response after saying it and I then say I'm not joking.

Another pet hate is are 'How are you?' when the questioner doesn't really want an honest reply.

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  • NAS15840 said:

    "It's always in the last place I look" well I'd hope so, you'd be really stupid if you kept searching for something after you'd found it!



    Interestingly, this came up in a Uni lecture two weeks ago (I'm currently studying sociolinguistics) and the origin of the saying is actually "It's always in the last place I'd look", thus suggesting it's always in the last place you'd THINK to look - which makes far more sense. It is simply as case - as is increasingly so - that between general laziness with language and genuine misunderstanding, the belief is now that the saying really is "It's always in the last place I look". This isn't helped when it's perpetuated by influential people in pop culture, like Lee Evans who made a big joke of it on one of his tours.

    In a similar vein to asking "how are you?", my annoyance is the flip-side of that - when I ask someone what's wrong and they say, "Nothing, I'm fine" then proceed to be not fine, and not at all like how they were beforehand. I do not take hints or cues well; I am easily confused by body language and facial expression; for ***'s sake just tell me what's wrong and then we can talk about it! Then everything will be fine!

    I guess it's the whole 'social convention' thing, about the turn-taking and game-playing. Why? Why must we!? Why not just be bloody straightforward and truthful!? Agh!

    I will doubtless have more to add - great thread! 

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  • NAS15840 said:

    "It's always in the last place I look" well I'd hope so, you'd be really stupid if you kept searching for something after you'd found it!



    Interestingly, this came up in a Uni lecture two weeks ago (I'm currently studying sociolinguistics) and the origin of the saying is actually "It's always in the last place I'd look", thus suggesting it's always in the last place you'd THINK to look - which makes far more sense. It is simply as case - as is increasingly so - that between general laziness with language and genuine misunderstanding, the belief is now that the saying really is "It's always in the last place I look". This isn't helped when it's perpetuated by influential people in pop culture, like Lee Evans who made a big joke of it on one of his tours.

    In a similar vein to asking "how are you?", my annoyance is the flip-side of that - when I ask someone what's wrong and they say, "Nothing, I'm fine" then proceed to be not fine, and not at all like how they were beforehand. I do not take hints or cues well; I am easily confused by body language and facial expression; for ***'s sake just tell me what's wrong and then we can talk about it! Then everything will be fine!

    I guess it's the whole 'social convention' thing, about the turn-taking and game-playing. Why? Why must we!? Why not just be bloody straightforward and truthful!? Agh!

    I will doubtless have more to add - great thread! 

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