• Snailpope
    link
    fedilink
    988 days ago

    My foreman would always say “Love my job” in a happy tone after anything bad happened on a job site. The happier the tone, the worse it was

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      158 days ago

      Brits ofen say “You alright?” As a substitute for “Hi.”

      Pretty jarring when you’re not used to it. Id think “God, I must look like shit if they’re genuinely checking on my welfare!”

      • Captain Aggravated
        link
        fedilink
        English
        87 days ago

        Yeah Tom Scott did one of his linguistics videos about that, he had a word for it but some questions aren’t really questions they’re basically just rituals, though rephrased a different way makes them genuine questions, and when you have major dialects of the “same” language like British and American English, we use different ones. “Are you alright?” is basically a noise of greeting in Britain and an expression of genuine concern in America, while “How are you?” is the reverse.

        • @[email protected]
          cake
          link
          fedilink
          67 days ago

          Chinese version 你吃了吗 or variations on that, although it’s not used so much anymore. Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer. I imagine it came up in that video, but it’s a good one.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            57 days ago

            Literally means “have you eaten”, except it doesn’t really require an answer.

            Grandmothers in every culture

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        27 days ago

        When I moved to London, I remember the old lady at the laundromat addressing me as “love”

        I was like: “Damn, over here my charm even works with old ladies”

        As it turns out, calling somebody “love” it’s just a way of addressing people in some English regions.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      98 days ago

      Won’t stop us from having a conversation or even just bitching about something that is randomly bothering us.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      67 days ago

      I always respond thoughtfully to people I don’t like. Then I ask how they are and watch them squirm.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          47 days ago

          It me!

          Which is also probably why I give this answer. Because it irks me to some degree that we just throwaway important questions like another human’s well-being.
          If someone responds without being tripped up, I sorta know they’re my kind of person.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            27 days ago

            oh same haha, if someone asks me a question they’re getting the answer, i don’t care that they expected a “i’m fine”

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              27 days ago

              I just realized that I contradicted myself. I said that I use this with folks I don’t like, and then that when I use it, if someone responds well, that I know they’re my kinda people.

              I don’t exclusively use it with folks I don’t like! I also throw it out playfully. It’s validating when folks respond in-kind.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      17 days ago

      It’s really like that everywhere, in my experience.

      It’s at most small talk, not a license to dive into one’s life story.

    • Neato
      link
      fedilink
      English
      238 days ago

      My coworker once when I asked him a hard question: “Don’t make me lie to you.”

      I still think of that a lot and try to work it in when someone asks me an impossible question.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        48 days ago

        when someone asks me an impossible question.

        I think that response actually works for the loaded question:

        “Have you stopped beating your wife?“

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    398 days ago

    “I’m doin.” -I am not doing well and I don’t want to talk about it. But I’m also too exhausted and shattered to keep lying about my mental state for the sake of social niceties, so I’m hoping my vague, neutral statement will either convey what I’m feeling, or you’ll fill in the blank with whatever you want to hear. Just as long as you stop asking how I’m doing.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    328 days ago

    “Too blessed to be depressed” - they’re a Christian fundamentalist who is depressed but trying to convince themselves otherwise. You should run.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      118 days ago

      This isnt small talk, this is a survival mechanism to figure if the person will enact violence on you or not. Optimally you want the response to be empty words, grunting, or being told to fuck off.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        68 days ago

        Optimally you want the response to be empty words, grunting, or being told to fuck off.

        US/DE/both, did you mean?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          38 days ago

          I was referring to US culture. The most exposure to Deutsche culture is through part of my family culture and that ancestor left back when the HRE was still in living memory and not even old living memory.

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      108 days ago

      A friend of mine, married to a European, said that I should have been born in Europe, not the US, due to my hatred of small talk.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        37 days ago

        It really depends on the country and people’s personality.

        In my experience in Southern Europe people tend to love share stuff about themselves (and will easilly go into their life story) whilst in Northern Europe getting anything about them without having a long acquaintance with them is very hard if not impossible.

        Apparently the Finnish are very averse to small talk (pretty much the opposite of Southern Europe).

        Then there are also other variances - in Britain they’ll tend to portray themselves as better than they really are feeling, in Portugal they’ll tend to complain about life and things and in The Netherlands, if you do get them to open up, they’ll be very matter of fact.

        After language, it’s maybe the hardest kind of thing to get used to when going to live in another country.

  • Match!!
    link
    fedilink
    English
    168 days ago

    Wh… what’s y’alls base suicidality level

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      288 days ago

      Our national holiday consists of drinking and playing with explosives at nighttime. You do the math.

      It’s generally a very cheerful level of suicidality though! Would be awful to bring the mood down by making a suicide all somber or some shit.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        28 days ago

        Also one of our best known sub-cultures is one in which the concept of health and safety are slurs when used outside of work. I should know I am a relatively cautious Redneck, that just means I actually keep the medkit nearby for if shit goes worng.

    • Fish [Indiana]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      48 days ago

      “I’m okay”? “I’m not too bad” would mean that you’re near the base suicidality level

    • @[email protected]OP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      278 days ago

      “Good enough” is “My head is barely above water and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      118 days ago

      Good enough= My day is shit, My week is shit, My life has been shit, but it’s not as shit as other people so I don’t have the right.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        48 days ago

        It’s the suffix that hits hardest:

        … it’s not as shit as other people so I don’t have the right.

        ~at least that’s what my friend that I’m asking for definitely said~

  • Dharma Curious
    link
    fedilink
    118 days ago

    Don’t forget “too blessed to be depressed”= I think God will be angry with me if I admit life (read: murica) isn’t perfect

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        188 days ago

        Boss makes a dollar,

        I make a dime,

        That was a poem,

        For a simpler time.

        Now the boss makes a hundred,

        And the workers a cent,

        While he has employees,

        Who can’t pay their rent.

        Why wait till the boss makes a million,

        And the workers make jack?

        It’s high time we riot,

        And take our world back.

        • @[email protected]
          cake
          link
          fedilink
          88 days ago

          The traffic light simply would not turn green
          So the people stopped to wait
          As the traffic rolled and the wind blew cold
          And the hour grew dark and late

          Zoom-varoom, trucks, trailers,
          Bikes and limousines,
          Clatterin’ by — me oh my!
          Won’t that light turn green?

          But the days turned weeks, and the weeks turned months
          And there on the corner they stood,
          Twiddlin’ their thumbs till the changin’ comes
          The way good people should.

          And if you walk by that corner now,
          You may think it’s rather strange
          To see them there as they hopefully gaze
          With the very same smile on their very same face
          As they patiently stand in the very same place
          And wait for the light to change.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            27 days ago

            Dramamine is the first thing I thought of.

            Guillotines and Dramamine would make a decent band name.