Platitudes / Cliches

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Here are two that I think are ridiculous but often believed by many people today:
  • Perception is reality
  • The customer is always right
It is my view that the originators of these phrases or the early adopters had an inherent understanding of the limits of the phrase's usefulness but subsequent, non-critical thinkers have regarded these as truisms.

I vote to ban these terms an invite you to either throw your support in for my motion to ban them or expose yourself as one who needs my assistance in correcting your wrong ideas:D:poke::nana::devil:

We need not limit the discussion to these two only. Add others as you desire.
 
Here is three for you.

Seeing is believing.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Better safe than sorry.
 
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LukeA said:
That one's not always wrong though.
Click to expand...

Neither are all of the others.

The one about the customer always being right, though, is not always practiced by businesses, but it does serve a good purpose, which is to keep customers happy and to keep them coming back.
 
Not wholly on topic but here are two I DO like and feel the greatest association with..................

Good judgement comes from experience, and experience generally results from poor judgement

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

Many a true word spoken in jest:nana:, nice thread btw Goat:thumbsup:
 
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. My translation: Stop striving for something better the moment you get anything at all. If all mankind thought like that we never would have developed civilization.

Give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime. (Only works if there are enough fish to go around, otherwise why teach someone else who will only end up competing with you for fish?)

The eyes are the window to the soul. (So you're going to judge a person solely by whatever idiosyncrasies they have with their eyeballs?)

Actions speak louder than words. (I've rarely found this to be true as actions are often constrained by societal expectations/norms a lot more than words, therefore few can deliver what they promise regardless of how well-meaning they are)

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. (As a self-professed "night crawler" don't even get me started on this one.)
 
There are 5 stages to a project:

1. Enthusiasm.
2. Disillusionment.
3. Search for the guilty.
4. Punishment of the innocent.
5. Praise and reward for the nonparticipants.

No good deed goes unpunished and the beatings will continue until morale improves! (Why I've chosen to retire end of the year!)

Larry
 
Two mutually-exclusive cliche's:


Look Before You Leap


-- and --


He Who Hesitates Is Lost



Gee, will ya' make up yer' mind ? ? ?

:rolleyes:
_
 
Unfortunately I have encountered plenty of people who thought "The customer is always right" was some kind of law. They never think that it is unreasonable to expect a business to refund their money if they try to return a 10 year old microwave oven that no longer works (my old boss Ok'd the refund!).

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106700.html
 
How about this one...

A penny saved is a penny earned:shrug:

Are savings and earnings the same thing? How about this "A penny earned is a penny earned and a penny saved is a penny saved"?
 
One of the most damaging characteristics of society is also one that permits a great advantage over past failures. That characteristic is the tendency to develop systems, and attempt to turn over reason and self determination to them. The damaging aspect, or at least much of the damaging aspect, is that the systems don't generally address every single possibility that arises.

Systemization, is in effect what these platitudes, clichés, quotes or rules of thumb are. There may be some that seem absolute, such as "you can't have your cake and eat it too", but most if evaluated from all aspects can be found fallible.

As a lesson, and a replacement for lengthy lectures or sermons, they can serve as an encapsulated version of great thoughts and concepts. There are some though, and apparently here, that get caught up in the systemization and miss the wisdom and lessons. They view an exception, and dismiss it in it's entirety.

An example as has been mentioned; "the customer is always right". The wise involved in business understands the power in conducting their business with an eye to serving the customer's wishes. The customer can make or break you. The business exists by virtue on a customer's satisfaction. Without it, the business fails. "The customer is always right" embodies an attitude that recognizes that. Is it always right? No. Like the rest of these, they're not laws.

They're bookmarks on life's lessons. Wisdom smiles upon them, foolishness treats them with contempt.
 
Education is the progressive realization of our ignorance.

Bubbles (PowerPuffGirl)


...wait a minute, these are supposed to be wrong, right ?
 
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Great thread Goatee,

You hit the nail on the head with your first example... "preception is reality" All of these statements can be veiwed in different ways. The end result of these kind of discussions can usually be summed up by a cliche... " the more things change the more they stay the same"

People belive what they want to believe, be it right or wrong

Mine to add to the list is fitting for this forum

"In the absence of light, darkness prevails"

So..... am I right... or am I wrong:tinfoil: You decide. It's the only real freedom we have:thinking:
 
Empath said:
One of the most damaging characteristics of society is also one that permits a great advantage over past failures. That characteristic is the tendency to develop systems, and attempt to turn over reason and self determination to them. The damaging aspect, or at least much of the damaging aspect, is that the systems don't generally address every single possibility that arises.

Systemization, is in effect what these platitudes, clichés, quotes or rules of thumb are. There may be some that seem absolute, such as "you can't have your cake and eat it too", but most if evaluated from all aspects can be found fallible.

As a lesson, and a replacement for lengthy lectures or sermons, they can serve as an encapsulated version of great thoughts and concepts. There are some though, and apparently here, that get caught up in the systemization and miss the wisdom and lessons. They view an exception, and dismiss it in it's entirety.

An example as has been mentioned; "the customer is always right". The wise involved in business understands the power in conducting their business with an eye to serving the customer's wishes. The customer can make or break you. The business exists by virtue on a customer's satisfaction. Without it, the business fails. "The customer is always right" embodies an attitude that recognizes that. Is it always right? No. Like the rest of these, they're not laws.

They're bookmarks on life's lessons. Wisdom smiles upon them, foolishness treats them with contempt.
Click to expand...

Party Pooper:poke:
crackup.gif


You are of course 100% correct but I thought this thread was fun!

Bill
 
How about these?
"Practice makes perfect." Wrong. If you try something 100 times wrong, it will be wrong the next time you do it. It won't be perfect. Perfect practice makes for improvement.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks." You can teach someone something new. You just have to have them practice it enough to replace what they are used to doing.
 
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