17 Things People Say Vs. What They Actually Mean
By Taylor Sade
It’s the tired phrases people use as conversational fillers which actually have the most meaning behind them. By the time you realize what a person was saying sounded encouraging or sincere, albeit highly vague, is the moment when you’ll see they were actually covering up their honest thoughts swirling in their head subconsciously. The fact is people are routinely having cliché conversations—how blasé is life, right?
A. ON “YOUR FUTURE”
1)
What is said:
“Follow your dreams.”
What is meant:
“Get a job.”
2)
What is said:
“Good luck.”
What is meant:
“I’m jealous and kind of hope you don’t do well.”
3)
What is said:
“We support your decision.”
What is meant:
“We support your decision, but loathe what will inevitably come of it.”
B. ON “DAILY SMALL TALK”
4)
What is said:
“Good morning.”
What is meant:
“Why are any of us even functioning in society at this hour?”
5)
What is said:
“How are you?”
What is meant:
“I don’t care how you are. That was rhetorical.”
C. ON “GIVING THEIR OPINION”
6)
What is said:
“In my humble opinion…”
What is meant:
“I’m actually the opposite of humble—highly narcissistic—and here’s my opinion…”
7)
What is said:
“I’m no expert, but…”
What is meant:
“I’m no expert, but I’m going to talk down to you with my advice and opinion of the situation at hand, so sit back and soak it up because we are in for a long ride.”
8)
What is said:
“I don’t care what anybody thinks.”
What is meant:
“I actually care an astronomical amount about what people think. I give a lot of fucks about other’s opinions. I’m just trying to be cool by saying I don’t.”
9)
What is said:
“Correct me if I’m wrong…”
What is meant:
“YOU BETTER NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT CORRECTING ME, OR SO HELP ME, WITH GOD AS MY WITNESS, I WILL MURDER YOU…”
10)
What is said:
“(Sentence regarding a topical issue)…I don’t know.”
What is meant:
“I just rambled for a bit and probably said some offensive things or things that I have no working knowledge of, so I’m going to shy away from it with this declarative statement.”
D. ON “CHANCE INTERACTIONS WITH ACQUAINTANCES”
11)
What is said:
“I’ll call you.”
What is meant:
“I’ll text you.”
12)
What is said:
“Let’s get together soon.”
What is meant:
“Let’s not get together, and if we absolutely must, let’s make it a very long time from now after lots of Facebook messaging, Tweeting, #tbt Instagram tagging and texting back in forth saying how much we ‘miss’ each other.”
13)
What is said:
“It’s been too long since I’ve seen you last.”
What is meant:
“I loathed the day I’d see you again.”
14)
What is said:
“Good to see you.”
What is meant:
“I could have done without seeing you just now.”
E. ON “SOUNDING SINCERE”
15)
What is said:
“We’ll keep you in our thoughts.”
What is meant:
“We’ll keep you in our thoughts, until absolutely anything else at all comes up.”
16)
What is said:
“Safe travels.”
What is meant:
“Just leave already.”
F. ON “MEETING NEW PEOPLE”
17)
What is said:
“Nice to meet you.”
What is meant:
“I’ll forget your name momentarily.”