(no subject)

[naath]

Two words I hate "but surely"

As in...
"but surely you could park at work" - no, I live 3 miles away, on a convenient bus route, I'm not disabled, and I'm certainly not important; the carpark is tiny and the waiting list for permits huge. I can not park a car at work.

"but surely they would love a toaster" - no, they've been living together for years, and besides that hate toast. If they wanted a toaster they would have asked for one, they don't. Give them the money they asked for or not, as you wish, but buying people superfluous toasters is just plain rude.

"but surely you could get a lift" - probably I could, but I like my bike

"but surely you don't have to pay that much" - that's what the bill says... I'm not about to argue with it.

My mother is the MASTER of "but surely". She will argue with ANYTHING she finds irritating or unusual; attempting to cause the world to be the way she wants it to be by sheer force of ASSERTING THAT IT IS.

The world is probably not haw you want it to be (no money tree in my garden :-p); that's an unfortunate fact of life for most people. ARGH.

Comments

[rmc28]

"Have you considered [obvious thing]" is my mother's thing which makes me go argh. I think it's a step up from "but surely" but it does seem to imply to me that she doesn't consider me capable of thinking of the obvious ideas ...

Except of course sometimes I haven't. Damn her for being right.

[naath]

ARGH. MOTHERS. (so how long before C is blogging...)

Although it is true that sometimes advice is welcome, usually I indicate this by asking for it. Mum usually offers it anyway.

"Surely you can't be serious…"

[franklanguage]

"Stop calling me Shirley."

(Oh, and I, for one, hate toast, but I have about 12 toasters. Go figure.)

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

But surely you could argue with your mother when she takes this stance?

No? Ok, I have tried arguing with my mother - once or twice over the decades. Doesn't work.

[randeknight.livejournal.com]

Easy solution. Move to the opposite end of the planet. I only have to talk to my relatives a few times a year, and they never turn up unannounced.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I argue, and then she repeats her position. Often word for word. Because, I guess, I said it three times so it must be true?

[hatter.livejournal.com]

When she repeats it a second time "but surely 'but surely' would make me admit you're right and I was clearly just lying to you. Yet here we are, both repeating what we just said" ? Accentuating air quotes may help.


the hatter

[sath.livejournal.com]

Maybe your mother cannot handle long explanations. A short retort would probably work best at stopping her from mouthing off further.. how about: "Surely I could. BUT I don't want to." But then maybe she'd just say 'but whhhhhhyyyyyyyyy' or accuse you of being rude, don't you know you're not supposed to 'backchat', because chatting back would create a conversation, and you're not allowed to do that with your elders! Bah. Parents. *sympathy*