26 year old here. Happens constantly. I really wish reality would let me kinda pause time for a second like in a video game, so I have time to weigh up my options. Tbh tho, I’d probably still end up regretting things I’ve said
I’m getting better though. I can have a conversation with most people and most likely not say something completely fucking retarded. But there are times I say dumb shit and end up reliving those moments constantly in my head.
One thing you can do for a pause in the conversation, is simply to put a thoughtful look on your face and stroke your chin for a moment while you figure out the best answer. This way the person you’re talking to knows that you were listening, so they don’t feel ignored, and it gives you that moments pause you need. Plus, bonus, sometimes they think you’re smarter and more thoughtful than you actually are.
I used to work for a large corporation and one day I found myself in a meeting with a bunch of female vice presidents where I was the only man there. The presenter was unable to display on the big screen because she didn’t have a connector; I happened to have the right kind and loaned it to her.
She said “you’re pretty handy to have around.” My brain decided that a clever thing to say in response would be “well, I’m pretty well-endowed in the dongle department” and I started to say that before my brain thought better of it and cut me off. So what I actually said was “well, I’m pretty well-endowed”. One woman in the room actually guffawed but everybody else managed to ignore it - although I’m willing to bet this story was told later more than a few times.
When you realize how that sounded you can save it by looking embarrassed and apologizing, and clarifying you meant something like “equipped”. Typically a gaff is better than leaving things at creepy
The nice thing about languages is that they evolve, change, reconfigure, and adapt. They are not sacred things, but tools we use and manipulate. While we may have something similar, the utility needs of our words change over time and over regions. In certain parts of the United States and elsewhere ‘y’all’ has filed in the linguistic gap.
yeah, I know the utility of the word but it just doesn’t sound nice, I try to restructure my sentences to avoid it whenever possible. just the tone of “yall” has the “trying to seem cool” vibe and it feels like an overfriendly word to use in most scenarios.
It doesn’t have the same connotation for everybody, obviously. As a resident of the southern US, it’s just an everyday phrase, and doesn’t carry any “trying to seem cool” baggage.
If you use it without the strong drawl it’ll blend in perfectly fine. I’m willing to bet that the reason you don’t think it’s sounds nice is cause your brain hears the world then your brain hears in Squidbillies rather than just another Americanism of dropping syllables. That internal shift in your brain can cause dissonance and make it sound ugly.
I’ve worked hard to get rid of my southern accent but to me, “you all” just feels forced and clunky. Kind of like when someone uses an unnecessary vocabulary word when it doesn’t add any extra meaning.
There are many different accents for the word. My second favorite is the Georgia Peach / Antebellum. I don’t know the term for my top favorite but I’ll dub it “the highly educated and eloquent college professor who grew up in a swamp”, it’s like brown sugar for my ears
I was talking to my dad about family drama a couple weeks ago, and instead of wording my sentence properly I made it seem like I called my cousin a cow. I immediately felt bad because even though she’s being a fucking idiot, I still like her.
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