It's not the end of the world (or a war thread)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I'm not sure what the word for this is, but this is something that really bugs me. Tonight I left the gas cooker on when I went to eat my dinner in my room, and when I came back one of my housemates told me "Do that again and you'll burn the house down" without a hint of irony or exageration. And a visitor was asking to use his computer to check their email, and he told them you'd probably fuck stuff up. He says that a lot, "that'll fuck up [x]". If he just said leaving the gas on was stupid, and that he'd rather the person didn't use his computer, then fine, but why did he have to put it the way he did? How can you go through life thinking like that? And how do they get this way?

And who've you known who's like this?

― Graham (graham), Friday, 14 February 2003 01:24 (twenty-two years ago)

ilx's mothers to thread

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 14 February 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Its a turn of phrase. People find it difficult to tell people off, so they have to use worse case scenarios to convince people that stuff is wrong.

This is generally a bad thing to do. But then so is leaving on the gas.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 14 February 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Some people are just honestly worried about that stuff. My guess is that they come from families who are really careful about such things. You will never be able to convince them that they shouldn't be quite so worried, no more than someone more reckless than you will be able to convince you to, say, leave the gas on when you go to sleep. There's no "right" amount of careful to be, so you just sort of have to accommodate them until they get actively psycho about it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 14 February 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Conversely, I come from a family that is ridiculously careful about things -- my mother would run matches under the tap before throwing them away, not trusting standard blowing or waving techniques -- and now I celebrate my freedom by treating all my stuff like crap.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 14 February 2003 02:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh God. This evening I managed to set off the fire alarm. No idea how, but I was cooking a pizza and burning the edges a little seems to have produced some smoke, though I think the alarm went off mostly cos I left the kitchen door open and there's a detector in the hall. Anyway, he's the only other person in tonight and he told me I'm going to burn down the whole house if I leave that door open again. No, I'm going to set off the alarm again. And he offered to give me cooking lessons (see forthcoming thread), because obviously not setting the alarm off is a cooking skill and not a closing the door skill. Grrr.

(also he appears to have neatly tied up the modem cable I keep by the phone socket for I guess passive aggressive reasons)

― Sarcastic Graham (graham), Friday, 14 February 2003 23:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, those guys who do the passive-aggressive cleaning can be totally worth it in the end. They'll throw away loads of your stuff but at least you don't have to clean.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 14 February 2003 23:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm with you Graham. I could never understand or relate to people that are like that. They seem somehow inhuman to me. Anyway, it's a big turn-off (both the passive-aggressive and anal-retentive behaviour; though they usually go hand in hand).

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 14 February 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.