# What platitudes do you wish people would stop using? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2022, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203 "2022-02-27T23:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/101 "2022-03-01T16:16:58Z")
> [@Kzbre5m](#): > > > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > > Literally > > Maybe not a platitude, but I wish people would stop using this. At least, until it stops getting overused. It was a small, intentional example of how annoying they can be. See? It worked. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/102 "2022-03-02T04:18:04Z")
Here’s one I’ve run into a couple times, and it never fails to piss me off: “It will be all right in the end; if it is not all right, it is not yet the end.” ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/103 "2022-03-02T14:58:44Z")
After my son died, I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “it will get better with time”. No, it won’t. Time will never cancel it out. It’s always there. What is going to happen in the future to make it better? He will always be gone and I will never stop missing him. I think about him every single day, numerous times. I may not cry every time I think about him, but it will always hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/104 "2022-03-02T15:16:55Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Both of those are counterexamples to the “someone for everyone” platitude. > > Unless we modify the platitude to something like “statistically speaking, there’s at least one realistically available potential partner for everyone who desires one who is willing and able to put in the necessary effort”, etc. At which point the statement isn’t really a simple platitude anymore, also it’s still wrong. When I hear this one I always think of the immortal words of Wreckless Eric in the song “Whole Wide World”: _When I was a young boy_ _My mother said to me_ _'There’s only one girl in the world for you_ _And she probably lives in Tahiti’._ > [@Grrr](#): > > Blood is thicker than water. But custard is thicker than blood, so…? h/t/ Eddie Izzard > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > All the ladies in my office say “Bless you”. I’m the only one who says “Gesundheit”. Living in the Bible Belt as I do, I feel waves of disapproval wafting over me every time, but possibly that’s just my imagination. I say “Gesundheit” too. What do I look like - the Pope? > [@WildaBeast](#): > > “Money can’t buy happiness”. It may be true that if you already have sufficient income additional income won’t lead to additional happiness. But many people seem to use it to say poor people should just be content with what little they have. Money is not a sufficient condition for happiness, but it may well be a necessary one. > [@DesertDog](#): > > “Oh-h-h-h. You want the Rainbow Bridge! It’s over this way.” > > Speaking of which, that’s another one. Yeah. I hold my tongue on this one because I don’t want to be a dick to someone that has lost a beloved pet, but it’s just so fucking saccharine. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > “You do you”. > > Just a way of saying " I totally think you’re wrong but I don’t want to look like a jerk". I use it a lot, usually to mean “Not only are you wrong but you clearly are too fucking stupid to notice it and for some reason take pride in it. Please proceed, Governor.” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/105 "2022-03-02T15:40:52Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > After my son died, I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “it will get better with time”. > > No, it won’t. Time will never cancel it out. It’s always there. What is going to happen in the future to make it better? He will always be gone and I will never stop missing him. I think about him every single day, numerous times. I may not cry every time I think about him, but it will always hurt. I don’t think “it will get better with time” is ever meant as “someday it will be like it never even happened” - just that the acute grief you are experiencing in the days immediately after the loss of a loved one will become manageable in the long run. Having said that, it might be better if people didn’t offer specific predictions for the course of anyone else’s grief. When my mom died several years ago, a family friend was careful not to tell me how it would be _for me_, but he did relate his own experience of losing his mother many years prior - specifically that for a couple of years afterward, thoughts of her made him sad, but eventually he found that thoughts of her (e.g. thinking of how she would have reacted to the mundane events of his daily life) made him smile; remembering his mother had become a pleasant experience. He ended by saying that things that called to mind his deceased relatives, including her, were a blessing to him. My siblings and I all felt that it was actually a pretty uplifting message. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/106 "2022-03-02T15:49:29Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > The best thing to say is, “I’m so sorry.” Period. I’ve never quite understood this one, either. What, exactly, am I sorry for? I really don’t know what to say to someone who is grieving the death of a loved one. I find it to be an uncomfortable & awkward situation. I am certainly empathetic, and I feel sad because _they’re_ sad. But anything I say seems trite or disingenuous. So I just say “I am sorry,” because that’s what’s expected, and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/107 "2022-03-02T16:04:16Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > “It’s all good” Or the stoner version: _“S’all guhhh man…”_ The first time I heard this I blurted out a very fast list of calamities: “It’s ALL good? War, pestilence, disease, people kicking puppies and drowning cats, is _that_ all good?” . > “Everything happens for a reason.” I saw a book at church: . . . . **Everything Happens for a Reason** . . . . . . . .. . . **AND OTHER LIES CHRISTIANS TELL** ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/108 "2022-03-02T16:11:32Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > My sneezing response is as follows: First sneeze earns a “bless you”. Second sneeze earns a “gesundheit”. If there’s a third sneeze I put one hand on top of your head while raising the other to the sky in my best impression of a tent revival preacher and shout “Be gone, demon!” This amuses me greatly. Others, not so much. It was Dear Abby or Ann Landers, or someone wrote about handling chain sneezes. She wrote: The first sneeze merits a “Bless you”, the second a “My that IS a sneeze isn’t it”, and the third “Don’t you think you’d feel better at home?” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/109 "2022-03-02T18:03:54Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’ve never quite understood this one, either. What, exactly, am I sorry for? “I’m sorry” doesn’t have to mean you’re apologizing for something. It’s another way of saying you’re _feeling sorrow_, as in, “I’m sad that you’re going through this.” To wit: > **sor·ry** > > /ˈsärē,ˈsôrē/ > > _adjective_ > > adjective: **sorry** ; comparative adjective: **sorrier** ; superlative adjective: **sorriest** > > 1. feeling distress, especially through sympathy with someone else’s misfortune. > > _“I was sorry to hear about what happened to your family”_ ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/110 "2022-03-02T18:10:23Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I’m an atheist and I can’t bring myself to even pretend to pray for somebody. If a friend posts on Facebook that they’ve just lost a relative, or that one is in hospital, I’ll say something like “Thinking of you and your family tonight,” which is going to be true, but also doesn’t involve any supernatural hoohah and I don’t imply that my thoughts are going to do anything helpful And I do the reverse. There’s a few acquaintances who recoil angrily if anyone want to pray for them. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/111 "2022-03-02T18:16:11Z")
I have taken to using “I’m keeping a good thought for you”, which I learned from a colleague a while ago. It could be taken for a prayer, or just as it’s worded, by the person receiving it, depending on how they want to receive it. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/112 "2022-03-02T18:32:13Z")
At a school I taught at years ago, there was a platitude posted above the entrance to the football team’s locker room: “DO WHATEVER IT TAKES” It used to always make my blood boil. Really? That’s the message you want to send to impressionable young people? That to succeed in the school’s football program you needed to do _whatever_ it takes? Because after all, “whatever” literally encompasses everything, including cheating in academics and/or on the field, doping, sabotaging the other team, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/113 "2022-03-02T18:37:19Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > It was Dear Abby or Ann Landers, or someone wrote about handling chain sneezes. She wrote: The first sneeze merits a “Bless you”, the second a “My that IS a sneeze isn’t it”, and the third “Don’t you think you’d feel better at home?” I’m a common chain sneezer. Sometimes I go on for five minutes or more. I usually leave the room around sneeze four or five, when it’s clear I ain’t stopping. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/114 "2022-03-02T18:51:31Z")
My husband is like that. He’ll sneeze twenty or thirty times in a row. This is one reason we have to watch TV with the closed captioning on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58f4c7/32.png) [@Sal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/115 "2022-03-03T11:53:35Z")
I despise that saying,it’s like saying I give up,let’s all die now! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/116 "2022-03-03T12:54:48Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > “Bless you” when I sneeze. I prefer “Ewwww, clean that up!” > [@DesertDog](#): > > “Oh-h-h-h. You want the Rainbow Bridge! It’s over this way.” IOW, “Dude, your pet’s dead.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/117 "2022-03-03T13:15:24Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > My husband is like that. He’ll sneeze twenty or thirty times in a row. This is one reason we have to watch TV with the closed captioning on. 🙂 - At least you know he’s up to snuff. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/118 "2022-03-03T14:56:32Z")
> [@dummygladhands71](#): > > _“They’re in a better place”_ Yeah. When my older brother’s wife died, he said “Nobody better Goddamn say she’s in a better place. If she was in a better place she’d be here.” Of course, her former boss, a real-estate-agent-turned-preacher, did the eulogy and said exactly that. My brother kept his cool and let it slide, though I’m sure he had steam coming out of his ears. “They’re in a better place” is one of the seriously stupidest and presumptuous things one can say under the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/119 "2022-03-03T18:30:35Z")
warning- minor witnessing I believe my niece is in heaven. I believe that if I do good deeds, I’ll end up there too. None of that was any help when she was killed. If I told you you’re loved one had moved to mansion in Hawaii (or wherever you’d prefer) and would be deliriously happy, but you wouldn’t see or communicate with them for a few decades- wouldn’t you still be devastated? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/120 "2022-03-03T18:38:35Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Grrr](#): > > > > Blood is thicker than water. > > But custard is thicker than blood, so…? > > h/t/ Eddie Izzard “Blood is thicker than water, but it makes lousy lemonade!” - Alfred E. Neuman [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203.md?page=7)