My first new thread! Unless it dies a horrible death, in which case I never saw it before.
So I just recently moved out of a house. I’d been living there for about 4 years with 3 good friends, and I remarked to myself how nice it was to have lived with people I could trust completely… I would trust with all my money… I would trust any of them with my life…
But then I questioned the last statement. Does the expression “I would trust him with my life” imply competence in life-threatening situations?
I use it to mean a trust in the person’s honesty / loyalty / integrity in regards to me; i.e., confidence that they wouldn’t make choices that would harm me. But should it also indicate a trust in someone’s ability / strength / competence?
Just curious what the Dopers feel the connotations are of the phrase. Maybe not the most illuminating of OPs, but I figured I’d start small.
I’d say either, depending on context, as in “I’d trust him with my life if he were piloting my helicopter, but don’t play cards with the filthy cheating sonofabitch!”
When I say “I trust him/her with my life” what I mean is, if I fell off the edge of a cliff, they’d try to pull me up. I have serious doubts some of my closest friends could physically do it, but they’d try their best. That’s what’s mostly important.
But I wouldn’t put my life in the hands of a trusted friend whom I knew was physically incapable of doing anything. I guess that means I don’t trust them, but so be it. I know what my friends are reasonably capable of.
My current roommate is sometimes too lazy to get out of the car and go to the ATM, or into the store. So he gives me his card, reminds me what the PIN is, and I go pull money out, or whatever. I’d do the same with him. He knows my passwords.
My other best male friend knew my social security number, birth date, mother’s maiden name, PINs, just about everything. When I was out of country, he could completely impersonate me if need be, and sometimes did. That’s a good friend.
I’ve always thought of it as trusting someone with the most valuable thing I have, my life.
A person that I believe cares about me enough to care about my well being. The only way I would use it as statement about competence would be in a very specific statement.
“Is she a good surgeon?”
“I’d trust her with my life.”
“Is he a good driver?”
“I’d trust him with my life.”
I wouldn’t use it in a literal sense. I would use it mean someone who I know truly loves me and wants the best for me, someone who has never purposely betrayed me and who I can share my closest thoughts with.
I always thought that saying was kind of illogical. I figure, high as the stakes are, your life is one of the safest things to trust someone with. If your life ended up somehow in their hands, just about everyone you know and a fair number of strangers would try to help you. The world is full of people I wouldn’t even consider giving my credit card/house keys/other stuff to, but would “trust with my life”.
