Telling Someone to "get over it".

In My Humble Opinion
21

If one of my girlfriends is having love-life troubles, or something equally “light” (i.e., I think the feeling will pass in a day or two), I won’t say “Get over it!” in that annoyed dismissive tone, but I will say “Hey, let’s get your mind off that jerk!” There often will be action-adventure movies rented so we can gripe about how much better a boyfriend Antonio Banderas or 1980s-style Harrison Ford would be. (Hint: a LOT better. :))

So I think the gist of the phrase – “this isn’t an important enough issue for you to be dwelling on” – can and should be used when it actually isn’t an important issue. But the actual words “Oh, get over it!” tend not to make the hearer anything but defensive.

22

It depends on the problem; I usually listen and put up with it for a good while or so. But if it just keeps going–and (s)he ignores advice, doesn’t change his / her situation, does nothing but complain–I change the subject, sometimes blatantly, and hope that gets the message across.

I think it really all depends on what they’re going through.