Today, I said "But you're not," and the words sounded suspiciously like "It seems like you're doing a very poor job of that." I'm not sure how they sprang, fully formed, past my intent, but they did.
I wonder if other phrases put themselves on autopilot quite like that. When I mean to say "My, you're looking lovely today," do I say "I'd hit that," instead? It would explain a lot.
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Freud?
ReplyDeleteMaybe habit has more to do with it.
ReplyDeleteWhat habit? The habit of pretending to care less than you actually do? I can't see an alternative in this piece.
ReplyDelete"You" refers, of course, to the speaker. That's the trouble with "I" writing. First-person narrative is harder to differentiate from the author than other forms. Sometimes I still forget that John Green's not a sixteen-year-old girl with cancer.
The habit of sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteIs that a fault or a virtue?
ReplyDeletePeople seem to think of sarcasm as the soul of wit, but I have to say sometimes I think it is more like the sole (in placement, not function). It is too easy.