Yeah, right…
Quite true. A coherent philosophy/religion/spiritual belief doesn’t require the trappings or dogma of what generally gets called ‘religion’. I’ve heard the ‘spiritual but not religious’ phrase mostly from people who, when pressed, can’t seem to express what they do believe, or the last time they did (or didn’t) do something because of their beliefs. If your ‘spirituality’ doesn’t involve some element of discipline or self-sacrifice, it’s going to get a huge side-eye from me.
(Actually, I know of one group that does espouse doing whatever the hell you want - the Church of Satan. I know a lot of people who may not describe themselves as such, but are certainly practicing Satanists.)
I have a friend who announces that she has discovered some new food that sets off her vague, systemic symptoms about once a month or so. The list of forbidden foods now includes anything with gluten, all cruciferous vegetables, garlic, onions, and most recently green beans. I’m starting to wonder if this is just the front for an eating disorder.
Orthorexia? Not a real disorder yet, but it might become one.
“Only a tiny but noisy minority of <Group X> believe in <Bad Thing Y>!”
Oy, I’m with you. “I’m celiac,” “I’m gluten intolerant,” or my all-time favorite, “I’m on a gluten-free diet because I heard it’s healthier” usually make me raise my eyebrows.
cwSpouse has Celiac Disease. He was diagnosed as an infant and spent the next few years on a gluten-free diet. His mother was told that he’d “grow out of it,” so eventually he went back to an ordinary diet. Fast forward 35 years or so, and his doctor suggested that his chronic diarrhea, flatulence, and other common symptoms of untreated Celiac Disease might be… well, you know. Went back on the GF diet and his symptoms abated.
“Look,” I want to say to these people while trying not to slap them, “Celiac Disease is nasty and unpleasant, not trendy. Cutting out bread ‘most of the time’ is *not *adopting a GF diet. If you have a normal intestine, you have nothing to gain by half-assedly avoiding gluten. If you want to be pretentious about your food, go macrobiotic or something.”
Have you ever met someone who said that?
It’s totally awkward, cause you’re thinking “isn’t that supposed to be like some black ops spy shit you can’t talk about?”
The question shows up here with some regularity - “So-and-so says he was in the Special Forces / a Navy SEAL / a Super-Secret Service agent. How can I confirm/refute?”
I’d imagine these days anything you claim is not only subject to immediate scrutiny (internet for the win?) but is also a bit cheesy/passe.
The most retarded one I heard lately was “I’m a detoxer”
I didn’t even raise an eyebrow. It’s a silly little twenty something girl who always blows her money on alcohol each weekend, comes back totally wrecked and starts telling people her adventures over the course of this binge, including the men she funnily approached, the sleeping on bathroom floors and etc.
Shortly it’s followed by “hey, maybe you should slow it down for a bit” “No it’s ok, I know how to reverse it” “oh how so?” “I’m a detoxer”
I’ve come to realize detoxing to most people is taking some more water for a few days and then drinking 1/4 less liquor than the week before.
I feel much better when I don’t eat gluten-containing foods. I don’t have celiac disease (I’ve done two trials with endoscopy), though I have most of the usual symptoms of it, but I do have a diagnosis of IBS (which involves plenty of diarrhea and flatulence) and chronic skin problems, both of which are non-existent if I strictly limit the various foods that trigger them, wheat products being the worst culprit. There are lots of people in the same boat; although going ‘gluten-free’ is doubtlessly trendy and overused for no particular reason, ATM. You don’t have to have celiac or other diagnosed allergies or syndromes to benefit from paying attention to what works best for your body when it comes to what you eat and other lifestyle factors.
/soapbox. Sorry. I’m just tired of hearing this shit every time I’m asked for a detailed explanation when I politely say ‘no thank you’ to pancakes or birthday cake, or order my salad without croutons. Since I DON’T have celiac, I don’t lie, but it seems easier to.
“I have a high pain tolerance.” Oh, and all the usual doth-protest-too-muches, like “I’m not racist” and “I’m not sexist.”
I was going to post this. In my experience, people – usually unasked-- will declare themselves introverts and then go on to describe the shyness and social anxieties that they would like to to be rid of. That’s not introversion.
Yes, but non-assholes who have their own brand of private spiritual practices don’t proudly announce “I’m spiritual but not religious”.
“I’m actually part Viking” (if said in Europe, even the least likely places)
“I’m actually part Native American” (if said in the U.S.)
I once met a guy from Northern Ireland and mentioned that I had a great-grandparent who was Irish. His response was “yeah, yeah, everybody in America’s got an Irish great-grandparent.” Not exactly “yeah, right,” but it certainly was “yeah, big deal.”
Have you ever met someone who said that?
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Not in person, but I’ve seen it a fair number of times on the internet (and the occasional news story); including here. Often followed by a mob of irritated actual military/ex-military types who barrage him with questions that an actual veteran would be able to answer, but the “Special Forces” guy can’t.
Plus people who actually have celiac disease tend to read labels like fiends once they’re serious about this. A former boss had it, as did his daughter (diagnosed and everything), and he wouldn’t even lick envelope flaps for fear he’d be eating wheat-based paste in the process. He was a doctor, and knew what kind of damage he’d probably done to himself going for years undiagnosed with this, so he didn’t want to risk adding one bit more if he could avoid it.
What color was the boat house at Hereford?
Well, her liver is a detoxer (for another couple of years)…
I have the opposite problem; I’m an introvert and quiet, but I’m not in the least bit shy. In my experience, people don’t tend to get that - if you’re a quiet person, you must be shy, right? No, I just don’t talk when I have nothing to say.
There isn’t a boat house at Hereford!
Wild guess based on how questions like that normally turn out on TV 
A new one I heard last week - “I’m a Flexitarian.” Basically, a vegetarian who eats meat sometimes.
I don’t know about you, but that includes everyone I know (apart from actual vegetarians and vegans). So why is there a label? It doesn’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t cook if you’re coming round to eat, it doesn’t inform me of which restaurants we should avoid - all it tells me is that you wanted to label your dietary habits something so you could contribute to a discussion with how special your choices were.