A few that make my blood boil, and haven’t already been touched on.
When God closes a door, He opens a window
I’ll pray about it/If I feel led/If it’s God’s will
Love the sinner, hate the sin
God won’t give you more than you can handle -
Number 1 & 4 being different versions of the same thing to my mind, and # 3 makes me especially batty - I have no obligation to love a sinner, because the sort of people that are guilty of atrocious sins are almost always horrible people. And plenty of religious folks sure seem to hate the sinner FOR the so-called sin, especially if it’s the sin of being gay, of a different religion, or getting an abortion. And don’t get me started about # 2, it’s always an excuse for NOT taking action, or doing what you wanted to do all along.
-calms self-
Just typing them out makes me irritable, much less when someone says one of these in my presence.
And don’t forget about China’s East-West Divide. There may be plenty of stuff for people in China’s eastern provinces, but very little of that trickles to the western provinces.
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.
It carries the very strong implication that teaching is somehow lesser than doing; that it’s what people do when they’ve otherwise failed in life. I don’t think I’ve seen it used any other way, really.
It doesn’t have to carry that connotation–it’s true, after all, that when John the Bridgebuilder is too old to haul stones around all day, he can nevertheless contribute to society by teaching. But it’s a short distance between that and the more negative implications.
It’s “thoughts and prayers” for me. I can understand the frustration of something happening and you can’t do anything about it or even to ameliorate it, but T&P is a sop for you, not the victim.
Well yeah, but that reason is the natural laws that govern the universe (physics, chemistry, math).
Things don’t ‘happen’ for the purposes of the spiritual growth or psychological fulfillment of a subspecies of primates with larger brains. The universe doesn’t give a damn about sentient life.
I don’t have any to nominate that haven’t already been named, but I would like “if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas” to make a comeback.
I think you are taking this one too literally. I take it to mean that, whatever your quirks or drawbacks, there is someone out that that will embrace - or at least, tolerate - them.