Really? What else would it be? Who goes around blurting out everyone else's opinion but never their own, anyway? Don't say this because being captain obvious doesn't make you look any smarter than the person you're castigating for having an opinion with which you do not agree. Also, do not immediately reject things just because you think it is "an opinion" because at some point you are stating that nothing can be known or true and everything is "just an opinion." This sort of sloppy thinking leads to reducing everything to a lie and, well, if that's true, what's the point of having a debate at all?
2). "There are far more important things to worry about."
This is stupid, just stupid. Of course there are always more important things to worry about. Unfortunately, your saying so like this would rather imply that just about anything someone else is talking about is "not important" to you. In return, nothing you have to say will be looked upon as important to anyone else! And that's a fitting reply to your foolishness, too. Saying this to people so often just reveals your arrogant opinion of yourself. Don't say it. It makes you look like a jerk.
3). "Ya know what I mean?"
A verbal tick that you should immediately stop saying. "Ya know what I mean?"
4). " everybody knows that"
Uh, no, no they don't. What ever it is, someone doesn't know it.
5). "I do that (or say that) all the time."
No, sometimes you are sleeping, driving to work, or eating. The only thing you do "all the time" is breathe. And one day you won't even be doing that. Some may wish that day would come sooner rather than later.
6). “You’re just afraid”
Of course, fear is a great motivator, but fear is not always the sole reason that people oppose something or someone. Sometimes there are real, philosophical reasons to oppose something instead of mere fear. If we don’t engage real ideological and philosophical principles there really is no way to logically advance a discussion.
7). “No offense, but..."
Why do you say “no offense” EVERY time you are about to insult someone? "No offense, but" you are an a-hole "ya know what I mean?"
8). "You're just jealous secretly gay you really just hate... You are just a secret racist"
You are not a psychologist, so please do save your pop psyche diagnosis of someone's else's mental state for someone who cares (hint, that would be no one). If you don't want to deal with what the person is saying then just shut up, ignore the person, and move on. Otherwise, assume that they are saying what they mean and respond in the same spirit.
9). Do not use curse words.
Really, don't. It just makes you look like an illiterate, slack-jawed, knuckle-dragger that barely has enough firing synapses in his head to make an argument. Or it makes you look like a self-assumed rebel at which everyone else just rolls their eyes. Neither is becoming. Grow up and act like an adult.
10). And finally, stop assuming that when someone criticizes someone else they are really trying to force them to stop enjoying their freedom of speech. If I say the Dixie Chicks are idiotic, half-witted, anti-American, dipwads I may be saying that they are mental midgets but I am not saying they shouldn't be allowed to speak their tiny little minds. In fact, if you tell someone to stop complaining about someone else's political ideas, then YOU are the one trying to stop someone's free speech. Or are you really so stupid that you didn't realize that YOU are the killer of free speech here?
Yep, clarity is the enemy of stupidity. So, observe these fine rules and you'll be smarter for it, we will all have less verbal diarrhea spewing out upon us, and we'll get to the nub of the issue a bit faster.
Sadly, some people refuse to engage along these lines and mores the shame for it. For those, simply ignoring them would be ideal. Of course that may be why MSNBC has such low ratings!
How about, “Having said that...”. A cliche severely overused.
And the number one stupid thing that people say: “We are the change we’ve been waiting for.
“Some of my best friends are black” often heard as a Liberal White Guy saying “I voted for Obama.”
It is a big, red flag that means money and not in your favor. ALL communication should end right there until it is cleared up.
“Let me be clear”....
Ever notice what follows is anything BUT clear?
Saying it don’t make it true!
Don’t forget the classic tautology: “It is what it is.”
That makes no sense. So, you're saying you don't care, but you also say it's possible to care less, so therefore you still care a little. It's self-contradictory.
If you are trying to tell me you don't care at all, then the expression should be, "I couldn't care less."
Some of my best friends aren’t gay.
or
Those who don’t learn from raw steaks in the past are condemned to re-heat them!
“Well, Bush did it first”...
(Or did it more, or worse)
Those are just Dennis’s opinions..
Basically I am driven nuts by basically anybody who basically starts a sentence with the word “basically”.
Another one to avoid saying is “clearly,” as, “Clearly, this that or the other thing.” Any time you hear “clearly” used this way, you know things are not as clear as your interlocutor is claiming.
- “A study showed....” = they heard somebody quote some stupid statastics bolstering their lame argument
- “will you do me a favor...?” = everything that follows is pure trouble
-”oh my gaawwwd” = ‘nough said
-”your ‘Strawman’ argument”... = 99.999% of people who use this phrase when attempting to discredit a point or argument has no idea whatsoever what that really means.
Here’s mine:
“To be perfectly honest with you ...”
Does this mean that the the speaker is not being perfectly honest with me whenever he doesn’t preface his remarks with this assurance?
That’s just what I feel
Response: Feel this and tell me what you THINK
I hate it when people say, “Things could be worse.”
Yes, things could always be worse, but that doesn’t mean that they are not bad now!