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Popular sayings that don't make any sense.


Screw the "it's just a figure of speech" argument. I'm calling these popular sayings out.

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

It actually doesn't. If I poke someone's eye and they poke me back, once I poke their second eye, they can no longer see so they can't poke out my second eye. Really it should be "a punch for a punch makes the whole world hurt."

"You wanna have your cake and eat it too?"

If it's my cake, is it really unheard of that I get a piece?

"Records are meant to be broken".

Records can be broken, but that's not the meaning of them.

"Time heals all wounds".

No, and I got the scars to prove it and they still hurt. Even if we're talking emotional wounds,, there are many people out there who can't get over traumatic things no matter how hard they try.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Nobody would feel cranky for waking up on the wrong side of the bed. "Who put sandpaper on your toilet seat?" is funnier and makes more sense.

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You eat your cake, you don't have cake anymore. It makes perfect sense.

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But what good is having it if you can't eat it?

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Two cakes is the answer. One for having and one for eating.

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I HATE the "have your cake and eat it too" one! Of course I want to eat it too! It's the natural result of having a cake! Apparently the two verbs used to be switched, which makes more sense.

"Money can’t buy happiness"

Uhm yes, it can.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"

Only if I also have loads of sugar!

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Yeah, the money/happiness saying is very stupid
Call me shallow, but having the bills paid up to date and some walking around money makes me very happy

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It should be "money can buy happiness... depending on who you are."

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^This. If you are a miserably unhappy person money will not buy you happiness. You will be an unhappy wealthy person.

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Sarah Silverman said, "When life gives you AIDS, make lemonAIDS"

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Dudley Moore said " ...money can't buy you happiness but it buys you a better class of misery."

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He does look pretty miserable in this:

https://youtu.be/aamHEnnlLYs

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Related thread - https://moviechat.org/general/General-Discussion/5e29d9a46b5780364deb96e3/Common-proverb-which-may-not-be-such-good-advice

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I like the example you have about not judging book by its cover. You have to do that or else you'd be reading every book you come across.

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Not sure if this qualifies, but many people say "could care less" when the correct saying is "couldn't care less". Very annoying.

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That's just bad grammar. I also hate when people put "should of" instead of "should have".

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I sometimes say what probably sounds like "should of" but its actually the word "should've", which is proper English.

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"Don't speak ill of the dead"

Then history is whitewashed!

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My response is usually: "so you think Hitler was a great guy?" and watch their faces drop.

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Hitler just wanted to make Germany great again !

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Having a funeral services background, I encountered this saying frequently. A better and more accurate [less archiac] expression would be, "Do not attack those who cannot defend themselves."

Longer version:

For those deserving of ridicule for doing horrible things, who refused to change their ways for the better, their name should be remembered negatively, synonymous with their infamous and unforgiving actions. Take the example given above, Adolf Hitler. He attacked those who could not defend themselves. *[Though people fought back bravely, resisting his tyranny, the odds were not in their favor, their bold efforts in the face of insurmountable adversity, never giving up in spite of the circumstances surrounding them]

Typically, after a person dies, over time all that is left of them is a memory until they are all but forgotten unless their name is kept alive for something they did, either incredibly good or monstrously bad. Should there be a wise person being slandered beyond the grave with no family or friends to uphold their honor, it would be an injustice to their legacy.

We will all be dead and gone at some point, it's just a matter of giving respect where it's due so that, by social extension, future generations will treat us with the same dignity.

All this said, I do share your sentiment, only wishing to elaborate on it. Your idea is clever and thought-provoking. My comment about all of us being dead and long forgotten is not meant to be a bummer, not if we look at humanity as a whole - an organic consciousness where all our actions affect each other in one form or another, all in it together.

~~/o/

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"What doesn't kill you will make you stronger"

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That pneumonia I had certainly didn't make me any stronger.

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