To Mitchell - Things You Shouldn't Say

The first thing you shouldn’t say is the title of this very blog. The problem I have with that phrase is that I seem to think I can say what anyone else should or shouldn’t say. Still, there are things that irk me. It’s not even the potentially offensive stuff or swear words. It’s things that seem blatantly wrong to me or presumptuous or based on people’s own opinions.

To give a simple example: “It’s not funny”.

You shouldn’t say that, because what you find not funny someone else might find funny. When you state ‘it’s not funny’ you imply someone has a wrong sense of humour. You can’t have a wrong sense of humour; you might have an offensive sense of humour (if that even exists), but it can’t be faulted, because what is funny is not defined. There’s a good reason for that: ‘Everybody is different and therefore might think of different things as funny’. This is once again partially aimed at David Mitchell, because he said something about a sense of humour that made me think ‘You Shouldn’t Say That’. Of course I forgot what. I don’t seem to be able to remember anything he or Robert Webb said. They really are going to hate me.

It just annoys me that opinions are passed on as facts and people get judged based on those opinions.

I’ll try to come up with a better list; my brains are like a sieve right now; it holds nothing.

ETA: Of course he tweets this one day before I burst: