# Reason vs. Excuse
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 25, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876 "2005-10-25T20:30:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/21 "2005-10-26T06:52:30Z")
I used to have a boss who loved saying, “that’s not a reason, it’s just an excuse.” Her explanation was that a reason is a cause, a clear logical link exists so that if not a then not b.
An example between the two of us. On the way to work I stopped off at a booking office to queue for tickets to some event I wanted to attend and was late for a meeting at work. She asked me why I was late. I explained that it took far longer to queue for tickets than I realised. She invoked, “thats not a reason, that’s an excuse,” and she was right. The truth was the lenghty queueing only made me later, the reason that I was late was that in this instance I considered getting the tickets more important than keeping my appointment. If the queue had been shorter I may still have been late however if I had considered the meeting more important than the tickets I would have been on time.
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### Author:  [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/22 "2005-10-26T10:36:05Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#):
>
> I don’t know, but I do know that those who complain about others making excuses are more annoying than those who make them. Most of the people I know who say things like “that’s an excuse!”, “that’s just a cop-out”, or “you’re using that as a crutch” are quite unsympathetic people.
Well said. I think the only difference between an excuse and a reason is semantics. Most people are very competent in telling the difference between a genuine reason/excuse and bogus covering up for shite behaviour.
I leave home at exactly the same time everyday. This time sees me arriving at work beween 10-15 minutes before my starting time MOST days, but at least once a fortnight I am 5 minutes late. Those days I am late I walk in, roll my eyes and say “bloody traffic”. This is both my excuse and my reason for being late. I work in a place where this is understood, accepted and the day goes on.
Anal clock watchers need to be beaten severly (I can’t remember the last time I left work less then 15-30 mins after finishing time so any 5 mins I cheated my boss on they got back in spades).
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### Author:  [@ckirbee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ckirbee)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/23 "2014-10-01T02:28:42Z")
Perfect response to old school managers who have been abused themselves
> [@Obsidian](#):
>
> I’ve seen this a lot in the work place. I think poor managers use it to avoid critical thinking and being forced to admit that there ARE factors in the universe out of their control.
>
> I had a boss who believed every problem, failure, or less-than-perfect outcome was the fault of human incompetence. Everything was an “excuse”. She compounded this by having the habit of always wanting things explained. If you messed up, she could never just reprimand you. She demanded you tell her (in detail) why whatever went wrong, and then replied, “Don’t give me excuses!.” Whatever, ma’am. Getting mad at me won’t make it snow any less in Denver, and Thor doesn’t give a rat’s patootie if the CEO misses his meeting. But I’ll sacrifice a goat just incase, so I’ll be doing something.
>
> This type also believes that everyone should have been prepared prepared for every eventuality, no matter how far fetched. Not doing so is a deliberate choice, and therefor all problems are a result of your action. Circumstances are irrelevant, because you should have been prepared for them. It’s a nifty philosophy, and allows it’s practioner to claim the outraged moral high ground in every situation.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/24 "2014-10-01T16:14:11Z")
Ultimately, “excuse” has a moral dimension. “reason” does not.
You offer an “excuse” in hopes to avoid blame. You hope the story you provide will “excuse” the behavior. That is, lay the blame for the (presumed bad) outcome elsewhere than upon your decisions and actions. Absent a bad outcome or blame, there’s no reason to think of it as an “excuse”.
A true “reason” contains no moral dimension. Said another way, a “reason” has to consist solely of things utterly beyond not only your control, but beyond your prediction and any conceivable mitigation.
The reality amongst rational and emotional humans is anything involving human interaction contains some things truly beyond your control or reaction, some things within your ability to react to, and some things you chose (rightly or wrongly, for “good” or “bad” reasons) to act or not act upon.
At which point the dividing line between “reason” and “excuse” in practice is wherever within that continuum somebody wants to draw it. e.g. the various manager-jerks listed above choose to draw the line that any failure of outcome is purely excuse. Contrast with lazy or psychologically damaged folks where absolutely everything is always entirely somebody else’s fault and they are always mere victims of bad Fate and outrageous circumstance.
I really doubt we can draw a more precise dividing line than that. Ultimately it’s just a bell curve of different peoples’ habits as both excuse givers and excuse recipients / evaluators.
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/25 "2014-10-01T16:18:39Z")
Good to see that my answer hasn’t changed in nine years.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/26 "2014-10-01T17:06:03Z")
‘Reason’, involves ownership in what transpired. “Sorry I’m late there was a traffic snarl, I should have left a little earlier, I guess.”
‘Excuse’, is all about not taking any ownership of events. “I’m only late because there was a traffic snarl, I swear!”
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/27 "2014-10-01T17:33:52Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Good to see that my answer hasn’t changed in nine years.
Shoot!!! I hate zombies; sorry I sucked in.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/28 "2014-10-01T18:42:58Z")
To me, an excuse is a reason that justifies a failure to do something one is generally obliged to do, or that justifies doing something one is generally forbidden to do.
If I promise to prick my wife up from the airport but get so involved in binge-watching _Mad Men_ that I leave an hour late and leave her stranded, that’s a reason but not an excuse.
If I promise to pick my wife up from the airport, leave on time to do so, but am prevented from arriving on time because there’s a sudden, massive pile-up on the expressway, that’s an excuse.
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### Author:  [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/29 "2014-10-01T19:07:33Z")
I believe that a reason is simple, objective fact, which may or may not be an excuse, and an excuse excuses the person.
Examples:
Reason: I didn’t get it done because I missed that email you sent yesterday. (not an excuse and submit myself to the mercy of my boss)
Excuse: I didn’t get it done because the email was never sent to me. (an excuse).
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### Author:  [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/30 "2014-10-01T19:37:58Z")
Reason = why it happened.
Excuse = why it’s not my fault.
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### Author:  [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/31 "2014-10-01T21:24:52Z")
As many have said, there is a subjective component, and one blends into the other.
Also as others have said upthread, my view is that:
a reason is an authentic explanation for the issue,
an excuse is used to avoid blame.
When a problem arises at work, I sometimes find myself offering an explanation for how I think things went wrong, offering at the end that, “This is an explanation, not an excuse.” (That is, “This is an authentic effort at problem identification as a step to problem solving, not an attempt to escape blame.”)
Looking earnest that way helps me avoid blame. 🙂
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### Author:  [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/32 "2014-10-02T00:37:24Z")
If it comes from me, it’s a reason.
If it comes from you, it’s an excuse.
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### Author:  [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2014, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reason-vs-excuse/327876/33 "2014-10-02T04:00:30Z")
I’m bizarrely excited something I wrote was worth resurrecting a 9 year old thread to comment on.
That bitch remains the worst person I’ve ever worked for.
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