Platitudes that should be banned

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Strikes me that some of the cliched sayings people use to justify their situation just don't hold up under examination. One that really makes me cringe is:

"If it doesn't kill me, it makes me stronger".

What a pile of idiotic nonsense. Being punched on the nose, insulted, spat at, derided and putting your underpants on back to front - none if these kill you, yet they clearly do not make you stronger. According to this saying, then being raped "makes you stronger". We should be thanking rapists, not locking 'em up then! Really, this saying is so pathetically wrong it should be struck from the language. I don't even want to start thinking about it justifying a 'victim' mentality and acceptance of others treating you bad.

Can anybody else think of any other pithy platitudes that although oft-quoted, are blatantly wrong?

Another I heard recently:

"If it really was an eye for an eye, there'd be hardly anybody with two eyes left"

Although originating from a scientist, I believe, this one is in the context of extremist liberals defending violent thugs and psycopaths. I ask you: have you ever beaten someone so badly they lost an eye? Nope. Me neither. The vast majority of us live our lives without inflicting sadistic brutality on others. And it's not by chance, which is what I believe the purveyor of this saying is hinting at. "Hey, there's a serial killer, well I can't condemn him because there, but for grace of God, go I".

We also have those silly proverbs that contradict: "A stitch in time saves nine" vs. "look before leap".

Any more for any more?

My mother used to tell me to "Stop and smell the flowers" on my way to school.

I understand the sentiment, but how on earth is that going to prevent me from feeling bad about being bullied once I was at school.

I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to most of them anyway.

I dislike those sayings, also...if we all believed in "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"...we would all be blind and toothless.

"i have a bone to pick with you"
"you better not drop the pie"

To play devils advocate(now that is an expression I dislike as it seems to imply that there is something evil in analyzing or contridicting some belief)......

I stich in time does indeed save nine.If you have a thread seam unraveling on a garment and repare it when it first begins to unravel,you will have a smaller hole to repair then if you ignore it and it further unravels.This is logic.

Look before you leap....I would certainly hope so.It might be fun to jump off a pear into deep water(if you can swim)but if you jump off a cliff into shallow water....ouch.


Whatever doesnt kill you CAN make you stronger or it can make you into a sadist(people who are bullied and then become bullies) or convince you that suicide is better then suffering further pain.

How it makes you stronger?It can either desensitize you to some kinds of pain(you learn to block it out to a degree) or make you feel good about being able to overcome a hardship and learn coping skills for further attacks.

Some one did try and rape me,I was robbed twice and it just made me move to a safer neighborhood.I dont think it made me stronger..just much more paranoid,ante-social and cautious.

Eye for an eye is absrd because people are not in the same place to begin with.If someone robs a loaf of bread because they are starving it's not the ssme as some company CEO that steals money from people with illegal and unethical practices.The former is always punished more harshly(and how does cutting off their hands help them gain financial freedom from the poverty that forced them to steal or die?).The CEO may lose their job but will end up being made the head of some "business ethics" group by GW Bush(or the medal of freedom).

well, there are many saying such as this, none make complete sense, but they all have some significant meaning, of strength, courage, or otherwise

I like saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" because of the absurdity of it.

I have heard the saying as, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." The original quote was, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind," and it is attributed to Mahatma Gandhi.

I have that bumper sticker!

(Exodus 21:24 KJV) Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

(Leviticus 24:20 KJV) Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

(Deuteronomy 19:21 KJV) And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Matthew 5:38-48 KJV
(38) Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
(39) But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
(40) And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
(41) And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
(42) Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
(43) Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
(44) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
(45) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
(46) For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
(47) And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
(48) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Rip it off. NOW ! !! !! !

Thanks to EvilKimEvil for getting the original quote. In absence of an explanation, I still think it's ludicrous. I guess it rubs my (Aspie?) sense of justice the wrong way. To me it's suggesting that maiming of others is 'just one of those things', 'could be done by anyone'. I admit if it was "An accidental insult for an accidental insult would make the whole world insulted", then that's fine. We all are capable of insulting others accidently. Only a minority of us are capable of initiating physical violence, though. And I worry that these sort of sayings are "grooming" the rest of us to tolerate being victimised.

Your mileage may vary, though (hey, now that's a saying I like!)

Another one I don't like:

"In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One Eyed Man is King".

H.G. Wells wrote an interesting story about this, where a one eyed man stumbles upon an island where everyone is genetically blind. Out hero doesn't become king though, the non-sighted just *know* that the sighted man is lying and is a total aberration to humanity, so they abuse him out and kill him for being a heretic, or somesuch. So it should be "In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is persecuted and probably winds up crucified"

I don't have any particular ones in mind but I know someone who often speaks in platitudes and it irritates the heck out of me. I think it's the 'reading from inner scripts' thing, and one or two here or there is probably normal but to always say them comes across as the person not really caring. Of course, they're definitely not NT either so ... I understand it may be the only way they have of expressing feelings sometimes .... but it is still frustrating on the other side.

“Easy as Pie.” Somebody needs to do away with that saying. I’ve made pie from scratch, it isn’t that easy. Peeling and coring apples when you‘re clumsy with a knife and mixing and rolling out the crust isn’t my idea of fun. I prefer opening a can of pie filling and putting it into a pre-made crust. Now that’s easy pie. It should say, "Easy as sitting around doing nothing."

They also need to do away with, “It ain’t rocket science.”

I hate the "sticks and stones" one, and "practice makes perfect!"

"There's a reason for anything" - That's just to cheap way for avoiding asking tough questions.

"God helps those who help themselves" - First off, it's not from the Bible. It's from Ben Franklin. Second, does that mean if we do constructive things, that the good results that happen afterwards is not the direct result of our actions, but becuase we made God happy? Does faith in God's grace mean we must be blind to the reality of cause and effect? What about people who are so longsuffering or so afflicted that they genuinely cannot help themselves, but need the compassion and asisistence of the community (sort of like what Jesus was talking about)? Grrrr. Bad theology.

The concept of "an eye for an eye" comes from the Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest recorded laws of which we currently aware.

I agree. Each and every one of these statements are cliched nonsense. I despise bumper sticker homilies. I usually find that these stickers are on the worst looking cars in the world, cars that should have been consigned to the junkyard years before. I saw one car that looked so junky and looked as though the only thing holding it together was a bunch of bumper stickers, including that idiotic saying about an eye for an eye making the whole world blind.

I agree with the commentary on "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Wiser, maybe and more cautious, hopefully, but not stronger. In fact, if enough things accumulate over the years, you're looking at a major collapse. Some do survive, but others don't. I think it depends on the level of strength you have to begin with. I'm more inclined to agree with the statement that adversity doesn't build character, but merely reveals it.

I was thinking of all of this in recent weeks. I'm glad someone posted a thread on it.