# What's the stupidest, least motivating, motivational poster/slogan you've ever seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319 "2009-06-01T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 10
**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:** [June 14, 2009, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/181 "2009-06-14T12:46:19Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > **“It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile.”** > Yeah? Well, it took more muscles for you to walk over here and tell me that than it would have to sit down, shut up, and leave me the hell alone! > > I smile when I’m happy, I frown when I’m not. The amount of muscular exertion either expression would require doesn’t enter into it. > [@KRC](#): > > “It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile!” > > But the doctor told me I needed more exercise. You wouldn’t want my face to get all flabby, would you? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/182 "2009-06-14T13:22:21Z")
Any one of the redneck “shut up, be a man, and just do it”-type phrases: _cowboy up_, _git r done_, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/183 "2009-06-15T16:53:53Z")
> [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > I haven’t read the whole thread, so I hope this isn’t a dupe. > > I have always hated [this lion motivational poster](http://www.successories.com/product/motivational+posters/motivational+posters/essence+of+.../the+essence+of+survival+framed+motivational+poster.do) (although the image on the one I remember was slightly different). > > It’s a picture of a male lion and the text reads, “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed…every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle…when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” > > 1. Some gazelles are nocturnal, therefore they aren’t waking up in the morning. > 2. Lions are mostly nocturnal, and therefore aren’t waking up in the morning. > 3. A gazelle only has to run faster than the slowest gazelle. > 4. Lions hunt cooperatively, and therefore don’t have to outrun their prey. > 5. In most cases, a male lion such as the one on the poster does his hunting by sauntering over to whatever carcass the females killed and chasing them off. > 6. If a lion can’t kill a gazelle, it can eat a rodent. It isn’t going to starve to death without killing a gazelle every day. The point is, the people who got the executive jobs because of their daddies or their cronies want you to think they’re lions, not remoras. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/184 "2009-06-15T16:59:56Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Any one of the redneck “shut up, be a man, and just do it”-type phrases: _cowboy up_, _git r done_, and so on. I happen to agree - but would \*\*Project Runway’s Tim Gunn’s \*\*catchphrase of “Make it Work!” qualify? He is rather famously a non-redneck in every way imaginable…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/185 "2009-06-15T17:07:52Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I happen to agree - but would \*\*Project Runway’s Tim Gunn’s \*\*catchphrase of “Make it Work!” qualify? He is rather famously a non-redneck in every way imaginable…😉 That one seems different to me. I guess the subtext is cautious encouragement, a general meaning of, “There’s an interesting premise here, and it shows potential, but you need to be sure you apply a critical eye and don’t get so carried away that you present something that’s poorly constructed and/or over the top.” ---
**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:** [June 15, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/186 "2009-06-15T17:11:35Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The point is, the people who got the executive jobs because of their daddies or their cronies want you to think they’re lions, not remoras. I don’t know who originated the phrase but it fits. “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/187 "2009-06-15T21:08:49Z")
runner pat: > [@](#): > > I don’t know who originated the phrase but it fits. > > “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.” I believe that quote originated during the 1988 presidential campaign and was about George H W Bush, but I don’t recall who the actual speaker was. I’m certain it wasn’t Michael Dukakis. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/188 "2009-06-15T21:12:34Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > runner pat: > > I believe that quote originated during the 1988 presidential campaign and was about George H W Bush, but I don’t recall who the actual speaker was. I’m certain it wasn’t Michael Dukakis. I believe it was the amusing Ann Richards, the governor whom Mr. Bush’s son succeeded on his way to become president his ownself. I don’t think the third base line is meatn to be motivating or helpful in any way. It’s just an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/189 "2009-06-15T21:51:33Z")
**Skald** , I don’t think \*\*runner pat \*\*(or anyone else) was saying it was–just saying that it fit the circumstance well. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319/190 "2009-06-16T01:19:51Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The point is, the people who got the executive jobs because of their daddies or their cronies want you to think they’re lions, not remoras. Whoa, excellent analysis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-stupidest-least-motivating-motivational-poster-slogan-youve-ever-seen/498319.md?page=9)