# Can't find the word/phrase **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589 "2013-10-07T14:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/1 "2013-10-07T14:47:27Z")
I’m not sure if this even is as simple as one word, or a short phrase. What would describe either the person who, or the act of, telling someone else what they’re thinking based on incorrect/spurious observations? Or, person A creates/describes a perspective that person B might be seeing, despite no tangible evidence of that - or even despite person B’s insistence that said perspective isn’t accurate? Something along the lines of personification of inanimate objects comes to mind; ascribing qualities where they don’t belong, but more comprehensive than that. For example: Joey says to Paul “Well, the reason you’re so upset is because you think all the Serbians are out to get you, and your world view is dictated by your insistence that the sky is falling”. To which Paul might respond simply “No, I’m not upset, I don’t think the Serbians are out to get me, and I feel that the sky is quite beautiful.” Does this make sense? What is Joey doing here? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/2 "2013-10-07T14:51:04Z")
In literature there’s the term “unreliable narrator” for stories in which the reader cannot and should not be certain that what the narrator says is accurate. There’s also the idea that A is projecting his own thoughts or feelings onto B, with or without justification. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/3 "2013-10-07T14:55:47Z")
I can see projection being pretty close. But what if person A doesn’t have those feelings, they’re just assuming/claiming that person B does? Then what are they projecting? ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/4 "2013-10-07T14:58:57Z")
Would this be an example of a [straw-man argument](http://www.logicalfallacies.info/ambiguity/straw-man/)? ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/5 "2013-10-07T15:04:42Z")
Maybe if it were being used in an argument or debate setting. But just as a matter of course, as a mode of thinking which guides one’s thoughts and actions towards a particular person/group, I don’t think that fits snugly. I can’t even say this is on the tip of my tongue…there’s got to be something in this language though. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/6 "2013-10-07T15:19:40Z")
Simply “jumping to conclusions” springs to mind. Ascribing motives might fit in there somewhere. Also false assumptions. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/7 "2013-10-07T16:22:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Simply “jumping to conclusions” springs to mind. Ascribing motives might fit in there somewhere. Also false assumptions. If it were the same conclusion each time person A dealt with person B, or each time person A thought about / discussed person B (or group B, or item B, or whatever) then would “Jumping to conclusions” still apply? Person A is no longer jumping, the conclusion now an accepted “fact” in their mind. It might be said that person A would need to be disabused of their incorrect thinking. But before that happens, and they’re proceeding as though their incorrect version of person B’s perceptions/motivations are accurate, what is person A doing? Maybe there is no neat little term/phrase for this. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/8 "2013-10-07T17:25:20Z")
“Misattributing” maybe. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/9 "2013-10-07T18:44:43Z")
Jumping to erroneous conclusions? ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/10 "2013-10-08T00:35:04Z")
“Putting words into one’s mouth” is a good phrase here. Also, simply “You can’t tell me how I feel.” is a good enough rebuttal. It’s something lots of psychiatrist/psychologists/psychoanalysts do (especially the quack ones). They attempt to find deeper meaning (often clichéd deeper meaning) to every human emotion, depression, action, et al. Call it Freudian Overimagination, or just quack psychology. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/11 "2013-10-08T07:33:05Z")
“Propaganda” is the classic term. Propagandising is the verb. Propagandist is the opposite of a “straight talker”. With the propagandist, there’s something fishy, they think that if they say it three times, it becomes true… ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-find-the-word-phrase/670589/12 "2013-10-09T19:01:43Z")
I call it arrogance or condescension: the assumption that you know what someone else is thinking/feeling. My mother does it all of the time, but in her case she is projecting: she would react to a situation in a certain way, therefore she assumes that someone else will, too. And she’ll act on that assumption before testing it. I think of that as being more self-centered than arrogant or condescending: she genuinely has trouble thinking outside of her own experiences. And she has no idea how maddening it is: she thinks she’s just being thoughtful, and her feelings get hurt when you try to explain that making an assumption and _acting_ on an assumption (because you can’t imagine that it might not be right) are two different things.