Common sayings and expressions we'd like to believe as true but really a bunch of BS

Not_Punny

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Yes, I agree. It does contain an element of truth, though. A more accurate saying might be:

What doesn't kill you:
- Might make you stronger.
- Might make you physically broken and useless.
- Might break you mentally.
- Might actually kill you.

Or it might just be reworded as,

"We often become stronger through hardship."


And then there's another angle, which I believe is more to the point: Adversity is the best teacher. Although personally, I'd edit that to say, Adversity is life's teacher.



Another saying I find to be extremely destructive is:

"Always do your best."

This is probably the most damaging thing one can tell to a child. The implication is that you are dogshit if you are not always doing your best. And what is worse is that kids often interpret that as you are dogshit if you are not the overall best. This one stupid phrase leads to so much pathological perfectionism in the world.

I used to counter it in my kids with the following example. I say that the level of quality that is needed in a particular endeavor is a function of the endeavor itself. For example, I take the garbage cans out to the street every Thursday night. When I do that, I don't try to do my best. On the other hand, if I were performing brain surgery, I would surely be trying to do my best. Most things in life lie somewhere between taking the garbage out and brain surgery. The trick is to be able to figure out where things lie on that spectrum and adjust one's effort accordingly.

This is especially important when kids hit college and they are not in control of their workload. Professors from each course are assigning work and test dates in complete disregard for what other professors are doing. Instead of doing your best, it is a much better survival skill to become good at triage. That is more like real life anyway, since everything you put your time into has opportunity cost somewhere else.

Good point.
 

Not_Punny

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Now you haven't been paying attention, I've mentioned what I collect several times and it makes thimble collecting look positively sane :)

* beats brow * * grovels *

Aaaaah!! I can't believe I missed those posts.... I'll have to clear my social calendar to sit down with your past posts to discuss this issue! :tongue:
 

DC_DEEP

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I suppose these two better qualify as oxymorons, but:

common sense
common courtesy

I made up my own little truism for those: "Neither common sense nor common courtesy is common.
And then there's: Necessity is the mother of invention. That's only sometimes true.
And for a lot of people, you could rearrange it to "Mother is the necessity of invention."
 

ManlyBanisters

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:smile:

".... ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR"

:confused: is it really?

Nope... that one's totally not true!

Actually I think it is true. It doesn't mean that love and war are fair - It means the opposite, that there is no trick too low down and dirty in situations of love and war.

Or basically that you can throw the concept of 'fairness' out the window altogether when it comes to either love or war.

A more transparent way of putting it would be "Expect no fairness in love and war"
 

earllogjam

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What about..


"The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree."


I friggin hate that saying. In my case I like to think I landed on another planet.
 

aboveagveragethick

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yes some are true some are not, but # 8 on your list is one that is true, just wanted to point that out, the pen can do a lot more damage then a sword, there have been a lot of horrible things written, or designed with a pen, such as high tech weapons, or even stupid or un ethical laws....
 

thoreau

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The only idiom I can't stand is this one.


"A penny saved is a penny earned." :(


God! I hate this saying. I understand the wisdom and practical advice behind it. It is better to save money wisely rather than to once have it spend it soon after.

I dislike it because of the image in my mind of some schmuck lugging around a sac of 500 or so pennies with a stupid smile on his face muttering “A penny saved is a penny earned." When in reality he only has 5 dollars.


Some idioms I believe are quite accurate and have learned from experience bear out to be true.

Some that have already been mentioned:


- Nothing ventured, nothing gained

- A stitch in time saves nine.

or its variations: - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

- Measure twice, cut once.

- One must strike while the iron is hot.



And the one that "Hits the nail on the head" :) for me is:

-It is better to saying nothing and be thought a fool than to say anything and remove all doubt"