# 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:** 7
**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, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/121 "2022-03-03T18:40:05Z")
I’ve hear, I don’t know if it’s true, that the original saying was “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of birth”- meaning ‘The bond between those we choose as family is stronger than the bond of blood relatives’ ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/122 "2022-03-03T19:55:09Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > I also hate “It gets better”. I’m okay with that if it’s a really good guess, like say, to a high schooler. Or a gay high schooler. Or the mother of a baby who doesn’t sleep through the night. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/123 "2022-03-04T13:48:53Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’ve hear, I don’t know if it’s true, that the original saying was “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of birth”- meaning ‘The bond between those we choose as family is stronger than the bond of blood relatives’ My understanding of that version is that the covenant version was created in the 1990s. But I can’t cite evidence. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/124 "2022-03-04T15:52:07Z")
Yeah, it does have a ring of after-the-fact shoehorning to it. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/125 "2022-03-04T16:22:18Z")
“I’ll pray for you.” You might as well chant “boogie-woogie” at a rock in your back yard. It will do the same amount of good. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/126 "2022-03-04T23:17:48Z")
Nah, the boogie-woogie chant would amuse or at least bemuse me and thereby momentarily distract me from my problem, which is at least something! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/127 "2022-03-04T23:27:34Z")
> [@robby](#): > > 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. As a counter-anecdote, I like how Mack Brown, the coach of the Texas Longhorns at the time, told his team right after they won the national title in 2005, that they should **not** let this moment be the highlight of their life, at which point everything would be downhill from there on out. Because they should aspire to even better and happier things in life ahead than winning a mere football championship. ---
**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 5, 2022, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/128 "2022-03-05T12:29:48Z")
“We’re a family here at this company.” And all variations. No, no, NO. Look - I’ll help you with this: 1. If you periodically reorganize into new business units - you are not a family. 2. If you have “VP’s” and “EXEC’s” - you are not a family. Families have parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins…get it? 3. If you lay off workers due to a “business downturn” - you are not a family. Family shares rough times. 4. If you have yearly performance reviews for individual members - you are not a family. And so on. ---
**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 5, 2022, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/129 "2022-03-05T12:55:28Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > If you have yearly performance reviews for individual members - you are not a family. What about families who celebrate Festivus, and the Airing of Grievances? Yeah, I agree that whole “We’re a family here…” is just corporate feel-good claptrap. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/130 "2022-03-05T13:02:11Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > “We’re a family here at this company.” I knew a guy who retired but found himself bored. He liked animals, so he decided to look into a pet shop franchise. He invested his retirement savings. He gave preference to his extended family as he hired “employees”. A son-in-law had been laid off, so he was hired to clean puppy cages _at the same pay he made from his previous job in sales_. Before long he employed all the losers in the family, none with pet interests/abilities. He paid everyone based on what they needed to be happy. Within five years he lost the franchise and declared bankruptcy. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/131 "2022-03-06T08:41:37Z")
I haven’t seen a lot of this one, but it seems to be gaining ground and I would like to nip it in the bud now. “I’m such an empath.” Please stop it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/132 "2022-03-07T11:36:04Z")
Describing someone as ‘an old soul’. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/133 "2022-03-07T11:44:41Z")
> [@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". This phrase became mildly amusing to me once I realized that, while different idiomatically, the words within the phrase also can mean “go f\*\*\* yourself” so now it sounds even more like a passive-aggressive put-down than it already is. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/134 "2022-03-07T12:32:51Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > This phrase became mildly amusing to me once I realized that, while different idiomatically, the words within the phrase also can mean “go f\*\*\* yourself” so now it sounds even more like a passive-aggressive put-down than it already is. I never thought of that! You’re right; makes it even more obnoxious. ---
**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 7, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/135 "2022-03-07T13:53:42Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > This phrase became mildly amusing to me once I realized that, while different idiomatically, the words within the phrase also can mean “go f\*\*\* yourself” so now it sounds even more like a passive-aggressive put-down than it already is. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I never thought of that! You’re right; makes it even more obnoxious. Or more attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/136 "2022-03-07T14:00:04Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > This phrase became mildly amusing to me once I realized that, while different idiomatically, the words within the phrase also can mean “go f\*\*\* yourself” so now it sounds even more like a passive-aggressive put-down than it already is. I prefer, “well, bless your heart.” Nobody does passive aggressive like Southern white women. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/137 "2022-03-07T18:37:43Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I prefer, “well, bless your heart.” Nobody does passive aggressive like Southern white women. And that’s a phrase that _I_ wish would die. Too cutesy by half and obnoxious. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/138 "2022-03-07T19:04:44Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > And that’s a phrase that _I_ wish would die. Too cutesy by half and obnoxious. Not when it’s said with a gentle smile and a knife inserted between your ribs. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/139 "2022-03-07T19:14:47Z")
Nah, still obnoxious. I’ve never seen it used as stealthily as people _think_ they’re using it, so it comes off as lame. To me. I _am_ a little old lady, so the cute little old lady trope doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203/140 "2022-03-07T19:21:47Z")
I should introduce you to my North Carolina in-laws. They say things like that, young and old, and send a shiver down your spine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-platitudes-do-you-wish-people-would-stop-using/960203.md?page=8)