Why don't you just fuck off?

[aroraborealis]

As a rule, any time you are about to start a statement, "Why don't you just ...", you should keep your mouth shut and think more carefully about the topic from the perspective of the person you're talking to. You are almost certainly about to oversimplify in a dismissive and insulting way.

If you are the subject of a "Why don't you just ...", I hereby deputize you to sign the speaker up for a lifetime supply of personal visits from Scientology evangelists.

Comments

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I completely and totally sign up for this. Yes. THIS.

[yix.livejournal.com]

Funny, I thought the end of "Why don't you just..." WAS "shut the fuck up."

[harimad.livejournal.com]

My colleague was recently the subject of such a sentence. I'll pass on your deputization to her because it was a really annoying conversation - the questioner was trying to pass the buck for a minor mistake ze made.

In general, a question that starts with "Why" tends to be perceived as very aggressive. Generally I find it's worth the effort to find a different way to phrase the inquiry.

[wotw]

I tend to interpet "Why don't you just..." as "I am not seeing what the problem is here, and I'd like to understand it so I can help you. By way of enlightening me, can you explain why you can't just do _____?"


I say "Why don't you just..." all the time, with more or less this meaning, and I know a lot of people who say it to me very often, with more or less this meaning. I'm usually grateful to be asked this, because it gives me a chance to articulate my problem more clearly.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I learned to hear "Why can't we just...?" as a sound similar to that of a tractor-trailer horn. What was coming next immediately following that sound was going to be something I very much didn't want to be in the path of.

[lazyz.livejournal.com]

Why don't you just come to Wyoming and we'll talk about this?

[clara-girl.livejournal.com]

it's up there with "what you need to do is..."

[goat.livejournal.com]

While they didn't use that exact phrasing, I was just the recipient of such a statement! Apparently the solution to my problem of using facebook compulsively is time management. Easy peasy. Why didn't I think of that?