One that comes to mind for me: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is not always true. Maybe even only half the time! Are there any phrases you tend to hear and shake your head at?

  • snooggums@midwest.social
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    2 months ago

    "Pull up by the bootstraps"aka bootstrapping was a phrase originally coined to mean something being literally impossible and is now used as a tool to shame the poor for not overcoming nearly impossible social barriers.

    “That’s just how they are” is always used to excuse bullies for being bullies.

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      aka bootstrapping

      “Bootstrapping” came after “pull up by the bootstraps”. The former does allude to the latter, but it isn’t the same phrase; it was used in computing to refer to the initial startup of a computer, where the computer has to start up enough of itself to load its own code into memory. That’s a difficult problem, but not an impractical one.