# I need a snappy comeback **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075 "2009-05-11T19:29:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/21 "2009-05-11T20:16:19Z")
So you don’t like to hurt animals, and you don’t hunt. Just tell them it is because you are a bad shot and usually wound them and have to hunt them down putting shot after shot into a non-kill area until they bleed to death. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/22 "2009-05-11T20:21:08Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I am painfully aware of the hypocrisy involved,which is why I asked the question. You could stop being a hypocrite. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/23 "2009-05-11T20:22:38Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#): > > Why do you say it at all? What point are you trying to get across? Do you want a snappy comeback that says the same thing but somehow hides the hypocrisy? That might be a tough one. Are you opposed to hunting for some other reason? I do not try to hide it,whenever someone asks me “do you eat meat?” I say yes > [@Litoris](#): > > I “I don’t hurt animals” would make me want to punch you in the face, especially if I knew that you do eat meat. It would be the last punch you take. ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/24 "2009-05-11T20:25:49Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > It would be the last punch you take. If you want to believe that, feel free 😉 Seriously, if you want to make enemies so badly, just go right on ahead with the holier than thou idiot act. Otherwise a simple “I don’t enjoy hunting” works just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/25 "2009-05-11T20:25:51Z")
In my experience talking to people around here who hunt, most of them are usually pretty civil to us non-hunters if you don’t try to antagonize or provoke them. Once you say “I don’t hunt”, they usually change the topic of conversation to something else. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/26 "2009-05-11T20:29:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d go in some direction of raising and killing animals as a job or industry is one thing (a necessary although gross job), but for someone to do it for sport or entertainment kind of squicks you out. Which is actually the stance I take,but it isn’t to effective. > [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > You could stop being a hypocrite. Just a thought. Wow.Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/27 "2009-05-11T20:38:06Z")
I could pile on but I’ll give your request a shot anyway. **MTS:** I don’t hurt animals **Hunter:** You eat meat, don’t you? 1 - **MTS:** Yes, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t feel the bite. 2 - **MTS:** Yes, I drive a car too, but I got somebody else to build it. 3 - **MTS:** Yes, but only depressed animals who have lost the will to live. 4 - **MTS:** Yes, but I pretend its salad. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/28 "2009-05-11T20:40:19Z")
What are you trying to convey? Cause right now I’m lost. You don’t hunt, that’s clear. Do you think people who hunt are doing something bad? Do you think that hunting is somehow worse than eating chicken that has been raised for slaughter? Do you think eating meat is bad and you’d like to stop but have been unable? Do you think hunters are bloodthirsty animals and you think humans should be above that sort of thing? I’m lost, you aren’t making your point very clearly. Try explaining what you want to say and then worry about making it snappy or pithy. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/29 "2009-05-11T20:41:24Z")
I’m seriously confused as well. Perhaps if you could explain why you say you “don’t hurt animals” in response to being asked if you hunt, then your request for a rejoinder would be clearer. I’m not trying to be judgmental, I honestly have no clue what you’re driving at in the conversation. Are you trying to criticize hunters? Are you trying to explain that you’re a pacifist? Are you embarrassed by having to explain an apparent contradiction in your personal philosophy? ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/30 "2009-05-11T20:41:25Z")
Why snappy? Are you trying to change the subject quickly without stepping on toes or looking to get in a quick jab at their lifestyle choices? I’m the only non-hunter in my family. Big omnivores at my house, just not into hunting or fishing. Granted, in my case I’m not so much worried about the individual animals since I think living in the wild until a random bullet catches ya has to be better than the way many farmed animals are treated, but either way, I prefer my meat to arrive in neat little white-wrapped packaging. I usually joke about it with hunters trying to press the “but you eat meat” aspect with something like “And believe me, I am fervently grateful someone else prepares it for me. I like history, and realize I wouldn’t last a day feeding myself without a nearby supermarket.” I’m not better because I don’t kill my own food, they’re not morally or ethically better or worse because they do, it’s all just a matter of preference. A choice I’m exceedingly happy to be able to make, mind you. Do you truly see it differently? That a choice to not hunt and fish removes you from the animals dying for your plate equation and that it’s somehow the better choice? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/31 "2009-05-11T20:41:57Z")
“I am not a fan of hunting or fishing as a sport.” ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/32 "2009-05-11T20:46:25Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > Living where I do, hunting comes up in conversation a lot.My standard reply when hunting or fishing comes up in conversation is “I don’t hurt animals”, the reply is often “You eat meat don’t you?” > > I do eat meat,but never things killed in the wild. What should I say? “I’m too lazy to put my beliefs into practice and become vegetarian or vegan, but too squeamish to actually kill an animal myself.” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/33 "2009-05-11T20:46:42Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d go in some direction of raising and killing animals as a job or industry is one thing (a necessary although gross job), but for someone to do it for sport or entertainment kind of squicks you out. That’s making the assumption that these hunters do hunt for sport and not meat, though. (I’m not sure that’s been clarified by the OP.) My husband goes deer hunting (once a year) most years and does it for the meat. (I do happen to be a vegetarian, partially for ethical reasons. I also don’t do snappy answers to stuff like this, so I can’t help you there. My own personal belief is that one ought to be willing to kill or at least butcher an animal if they’re going to eat it; I’ve done much of the latter job without even eating the animal I’m working on.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075/34 "2009-05-11T21:06:34Z")
Closed at the OP’s request. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-snappy-comeback/496075.md?page=1)