# "If you think about it..." "oh just GTF out of here" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 28, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447 "2006-06-28T04:27:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/21 "2006-06-28T16:39:34Z")
> [@NaturalBlondChap](#): > > That or I better shuffle of to MPSIMS Please do, this word-vomit rant was terrible. “Structure” and “flow” are not optional in composition. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/22 "2006-06-28T16:55:31Z")
I left my word salad fork in my other pants… Can someone tell me what it is the guy thought the OP should think about so I can judge who the real asshole is? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/23 "2006-06-28T17:09:58Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > I left my word salad fork in my other pants… > > Can someone tell me what it is the guy thought the OP should think about so I can judge who the real asshole is? I’m sure you’ll figure it out…if you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/24 "2006-06-28T17:16:58Z")
> [@velvetjones](#): > > The level of vitriol, while artistic and imaginative, is highly overdone given the subject matter. It’s also difficult to read. An engineer wrote something convoluted and difficult to read? Say it ain’t so! 😛 I sincerely hope that the OP is more clear when communicating with the “squirrel” than he is here. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/25 "2006-06-28T17:20:17Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > Can someone tell me what it is the guy thought the OP should think about so I can judge who the real asshole is? Insecure aging engineer grievously insulted by young college grad using figure of speech deemed not sufficiently deferential. Film at 11. On the plus side, it’s nice to see Wally from the Dilbert strips is alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/26 "2006-06-28T17:34:35Z")
Wow, that was incoherent. Took me an hour to parse that verbal diarrhea down to the operative trigger: > [@NaturalBlondChap](#): > > “if you think about it” of course I fucking thought about it. Ok, it’s the “Perfect Ain’t Good Enough” program. Ouch, that’s a scary one. But at least we can reconstruct what happened: (1) Mr. Chap spends weeks on his presentation, working out every single detail and every contingency plan, not so much for the good of the company but to validate his worth in the eyes of every other person in the company. (2) Despite all his hard work, there’s a flaw in his plan. (Hard to say what it is – the OP doesn’t bother to mention anything about the meeting that matches, you know, reality.) A junior engineer points out his flaw of logic, carefully using words which, for most people, would be taken as respectful and non-judgemental. (3) Sadly, this “triggers” the program in Mr. Chap’s head. All of a sudden, he’s faced with the fact that he’s made a mistake, one he should have known about, and suddenly he’s transported back in time to that second-grade report card containing nearly all “E”'s, all carefully and desperately earned…but his parents send him to his room w/o supper and take his allowance away, because of that single, unfair “S” he got in Gym Class. (4) Unable to control his rage, Mr. Chap casts an area-effect Transfiguration spell that turns all the other people into mutant, diseased rodents. I wonder why that last part was kept out of the news? At least, there’s nothing on Yahoo! or CNN about diseased chipmunks suddenly running amok at an engineer’s conference. Well, I guess it’s the sort of thing most people wouldn’t want to hear about…if you think about it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/27 "2006-06-28T17:40:32Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Did you guys actually read that whole thing? I started to, but realized that I just didn’t want to think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/28 "2006-06-28T17:56:10Z")
“If you think about it” is usually a nice way of calling someone out for not thinking things through. Sort of a reminder that they may not be seing the forest through all the trees (aka ‘dude, you’ve spent so much time on this project you lost sight of the big picture’) Some people take constructive criticism, some get defensive. ---
**Author:** ![samm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@samm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/29 "2006-06-28T18:02:08Z")
…and some lose their minds and go WTF, WTF, WTFinginallthatissacredF? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/30 "2006-06-28T18:07:08Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > “If you think about it” > is usually a nice way of calling someone out for not thinking things through. I wouldn’t even go that far. I’ve often heard it used simply as rhetorical glue to jump from proposition to supporting statement, e.g. “Or we could just cater the lunch. It’ll cost $20 per person which, if you think about it, isn’t that much more expensive and a whole lot easier.” The implication isn’t “if _you_ would actually think about it, dummy, you’d see X” but “once one takes this to its logical conclusion, they would likely conclude X”. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/31 "2006-06-28T18:14:17Z")
Reads as if he’s been sniffing his rhetorical glue. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/32 "2006-06-28T18:31:01Z")
Man, of all the people to be criticizing others’ use of language . . . ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/33 "2006-06-28T18:38:32Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > Not every phrase is meant to be taken literally. You don’t seriously mean that, do you? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/34 "2006-06-28T20:47:22Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > Not every phrase is meant to be taken literally. The hell you say. > [@BMalion](#): > > I also, took this as an admonishment, and so, went back and at least tried to read that thing. Bwhaaa… made you look! ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/35 "2006-06-28T21:18:01Z")
> [@velvetjones](#): > > Damn, I took it as an admonishment to read the whole thing before commenting **DianaG** and then went back and read the last two paragraphs. I blame you for making me read to the end. A pox on you then 🙂 > [@BMalion](#): > > I also, took this as an admonishment, and so, went back and at least tried to read that thing. Now I’ve got a headache and I need to lie down and whimper softly to myself. I had no idea I had admonishing power around here. Cool! 😃 Sorry for the pain and suffering. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/36 "2006-06-28T21:35:25Z")
> [@NaturalBlondChap](#): > > “If you think about it” – just fuck right off dumpbrain, what kind of fetid ring piece ever uses that phrase in any kind of normal discussion. > So there we were in a design review, and after a short presentation that junior squirrel has given, some feedback is provided to which dearest rodent retorts “well if you think about it …….(insert justification for thinking process that would have a precambrian mollusc rolling frigging eyeballs skywards (if it had eyes, well ok large sabre teeth then)” > > This reply is basically positing that, no the other party has not thought about it at all and maybe does not posses the mental faculties to gasp the apparently simple concepts that even a terminal syphilitic monkey with the mental agility equivalence of a 3 legged donkey with a hard on strapped down to its hind leg could comprehend. Should have stopped here. That last line was golden. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/37 "2006-06-28T21:39:13Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > I’m sure you’ll figure it out…if you think about it. Okay, that was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/38 "2006-06-28T21:54:35Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Did you guys actually read that whole thing? Not really, I was enjoying the thought of mollusks with sabreteeth and got distracted. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/39 "2006-06-28T22:24:26Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > You may have misinterpreted my post, **abbeytxs**. I was expressing shock and awe that anyone could possibly be bothered (or able, without falling into a coma) to read that whole thing. Or perhaps [lapsing into a comma.](http://http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809225352/qid=1151533075/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-3771707-1209705?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447/40 "2006-06-28T22:24:47Z")
Okay, now I’m starting to feel insecure. I was able to breeze through the OP without any issues and was actually quite entertained. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-think-about-it-oh-just-gtf-out-of-here/362447.md?page=3)