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’
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.
My understanding of that version is that the covenant version was created in the 1990s. But I can’t cite evidence.
Yeah, it does have a ring of after-the-fact shoehorning to it.
“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.
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!
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.
“We’re a family here at this company.” And all variations.
No, no, NO. Look - I’ll help you with this:
- If you periodically reorganize into new business units - you are not a family.
- If you have “VP’s” and “EXEC’s” - you are not a family. Families have parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins…get it?
- If you lay off workers due to a “business downturn” - you are not a family. Family shares rough times.
- If you have yearly performance reviews for individual members - you are not a family.
And so on.
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.
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.
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.
Describing someone as ‘an old soul’.
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.
Or more attractive.
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.
Not when it’s said with a gentle smile and a knife inserted between your ribs.
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.
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.