this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2024
856 points (96.5% liked)

Political Memes

5401 readers
3895 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

A hobby of mine is asking people what they mean by "good morning/afternoon/evening".... Are they wishing me a good whatever? Are they stating that it is a good whatever? Are they saying they're having a good whatever? Or are they saying I should be having a good whatever?

I usually phrase it as "are you asking, or telling?"

I've found this is a terse way to get to the intent of the words they're saying, and it usually throws people off because they didn't think about what they're saying, they're only saying it because that's what you are conditioned to do.

IDK about politics tho. Just that I really hope that the USA doesn't elect a felon.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

"Good morning" "Isn't that really more of an opinion than a greeting?" [blank stares]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You can say good morning with an infection that makes it asking. Like if I looked over at you on the bus and go "good morning?". You'd know to reply that you were indeed having a good one. Same as if I said "rough morning?"

I would reply "Just saying"

It's totally conditioned to say it. I come from where the response to "How you doing?" Is "Good, you?", "Good"

If someone just said "Morning" to you, you've been conditioned to think something is wrong or they are having a bad day more than likely.

First impressions matter, and the first word out of your mouth better be good

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I try not to lie, ever, even in my colloquialisms.

If someone says, "how's it going?" I usually deflect because I don't want to lie, but I also know they don't give any shits about how I'm doing, especially if they're just being "nice". My typical response is that "it's going", which IMO, just implies that things have happened and doesn't really give any indication if they're going well or not. Same for things like "how is your day?" They don't care. My go to is usually along the lines of "it's a day"...

Whatever ends the pleasantries part of the conversation faster. That way I can get to why I'm talking to them in the first place.

I use "are you asking, or telling?" with people that I'm familiar with and in no hurry to conclude the interaction. I usually try to reply in ways that are thought provoking; trying to challenge their use of colloquialisms and actually think about what they're asking/telling me. I only openly answer questions like "good morning?" When a friend or family member is asking and I'm pretty sure that they actually want to know the answer and aren't just placating the pleasantries of interactions with others. If I'm specifically asked "good morning?" From a relative stranger, my reply would be along the lines of: "it's a morning, that's for sure", mainly because I don't really give any shits about making complete strangers think about what they're saying. If they want to stick to meaningless colloquialisms, I have no desire to prevent them from mindlessly navigating through life without using their higher brain functions.

I deal with enough idiocy from work that I can't be arsed to care about whether someone I don't even know and I'm all probability, won't remember, nor think of again, and will likely never see again, thinks about what they're actually saying to others by habit instead of being genuinely concerned.

If I ask someone how their day is, it's because I want to know, either as an extension of my job (which is IT support, aka, fixing shit), or because I want to know if I'm able to make their day less shitty by doing something that helps them.

I'm also a certified first-aider, so when someone complains, I want to know if it's medical, and if I need to go get something that can help, whether that's a bandaid or an AED, isn't the critical point, either is important depending on context, and both are equally important and unimportant depending on the circumstances. A bandaid can be extremely important to protect against infection (and a relatively small cut becoming a very big problem), whereas the AED is extremely important when someone has chest pains, and other symptoms of AFib, while it's basically worthless for everything else.

I dunno, I'm just some guy. I'm trying my best out here.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't know... I think my response to such a thing would be something along the lines of looking at you confusedly and then explaining to you that saying that to someone in greeting is a societal norm and it doesn't have a lot of meaning beyond that.

When the person in the supermarket checkout line says "have a nice day" after bagging my groceries and giving me a receipt, I don't think that they actually care whether or not I have a nice day. It's just a way of ending a social interaction.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I meant it. Almost every time...almost.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago

It’s hard for sociopaths to believe that there are people who aren’t sociopaths

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (8 children)

OT, but as a non-native English speaker, what would you say in a greeting like that if it was, say, 1:00 AM?

What would you say, "Good _____"?

Doesn't "Good night" come with a strong connotation of leaving and going to sleep? (Or expecting the other side to do so?)

(I'm from Czech Republic and we just don't have such term.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

In USMC boot camp, this specific topic was addressed very early on. It's "Good Morning" up until noon, after which it is "Good Afternoon" up until you eat evening chow, then it is "Good Evening" until midnight (at which point it becomes "Good Morning" again).

Of course, it's all up to personal preference in the real world. If you're out with your friends at a club and it's after midnight but still very much dark out, you're not going to be greeting people of the gender that you prefer to look at with "Good Morning", because it is still 'evening' to you and them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

"Halt! You are in violation of curfew!"

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

In Australia, G'day works 24 hours.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Honestly I prefer saying "Good Day" in Czech as well (that's the most abundant one used here).

At some point I realized that the whole thing has silent "I wish you", which also means that if I say "Dobrý den" (=="Good day") I'm actually being more generous. So correcting me to "Dobrý večer" (== "Good evening") because it's 7 PM or whatever is actually not just petty but also kind of a dick move.

(Edit: I also realize that my explanation is probably the pinnacle of pettiness, with just a little pinch of dickmoveines on top...)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

I've found that the answer depends on what region of the US you're from. The UK probably does it differently, but I'm with @[email protected]. If it's dark out, you're definitely greeting with "good evening."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Evening or Morning would work there. Good Night is typically a parting idiom. Even if it's technically correct.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

what would you say in a greeting like that if it was, say, 1:00 AM?

I'd probably say: "Why are you still up? Your bedtime was hours ago. GO TO BED!" because it would most likely be one of my children at that time of night.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

How it's going? What's up? Etc

You can use other greetings.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Are they teenagers yet? Because if not, good luck with that.

-- Dad of a 14-year-old

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

You are correct. Good night means that whatever you've been doing is over. The media is bending over backwards trying to appear "fair", but it just results in moments like this.

It's the tan suit scandal all over again.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

No, you'd say "good evening" in the U.S.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (2 children)

For people asking what this is about, I didn't look at the NYT because of the paywall, but here's an article that's very similar in tone from NPR.

Although they do state

The dozen Harris statements lacking in context are far less in comparison to 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies that NPR found from Trump’s hour-long news conference Aug. 8.

the following items are really nit-picky. It's laid out as a list of misleading statements, but reading the details of each makes me think "ok, so basically true, then".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

Some of the "misleading" statements were Harris neglecting to enumerate the reasons why a stated policy goal might not succeed, which would be incredibly unusual to include in a speech of this nature.

I guess the point the author was trying to make was that saying you "will" do something in office is a promise, and if you don't have the ability to guarantee that promise can be kept you shouldn't say that thing at all? I love me some NPR but they're really bending over backwards with some of these...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I feel like some loud conservatives made NPR freak out and now they're trying to sprinkle in stories like this.

Because the moment conservatives run things again, they'll absolutely continue gutting public radio.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It's because back in April some right-wing nutjob editor quit NPR claiming an atmosphere of bias. So he fled to right-wing outlets (where he conveniently ignores their right-wing bias) and now NPR decides they need to go back to balancing the scales of the BoTh SiDeS bullshit.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/17/1245283076/npr-editor-uri-berliner-resigns-ceo-katherine-maher

load more comments
view more: next ›