Is it just me, or are you annoyed by the pretentious genteel practice of answering every question with an, ‘I would’ as well? What ever happened to answering a question with a ‘Yes’, or a ‘No’? A ‘Yes please’, or a ‘No thank you’? Instead we get an ‘I wooould’, or an ‘I wooouldn’t’, spoken so slowly and with such great sensitivity that you feel like you’d damage the persons psyche if you spoke back to them with any voice other than the one they’re speaking to you with.
Now, when I say ‘pretentious genteel practice’, let me point out that answering a question with a ‘yes’, or a ‘no’ keeps the conversation in a rather neutral, or equal place of relation
and exchange. But if I were to
answer with that annoying, ‘I wooould’, it takes everything out of the equal, and puts the focus on me, which
would actually be my intent in answering that way. A simple answer of ‘yes’ does not contain an ‘I’, but if I insist on interjecting an ‘I
wooould’ into the conversation it
automatically becomes about me, rather than about us. But
hey, what else should we expect in an age of Iphones, Selfies, MySpace,
Facebook etc.
We all know what pretentious means, but for those of you who
may not be familiar with ‘genteel’ here
is the definition: Genteel
- Having or displaying refinement, especially manners that suggest, or are
thought typical of an upper-class background; overdoing the refinement,
delicacy of behavior, or snobbishness thought typical of the upper classes in
order to create an impression of higher social status.
I wooould, I wooouldn’t, I cooould, I coooldn’t, I
shooould, I shooouldn’t, I waaas, I waaasn’t, I dooo, I dooon’t, I diiid, I
diiiidn’t, I aaam, I’m noaaatt.
Sound obnoxiously familiar?
Well then, stop it, please.
It’s very unbecoming.
