18 Popular Sayings and Quotes That Make No Sense (to Me!)

Last week I was in the sauna at my gym with a few people and at some point, someone said something about “giving 110 percent during their workout”.

Before I had a chance to correct them by saying, “technically you cannot give more than 100%” I caught myself and had a flashback to high school.

There were a few nerds at my school who would always jump into conversations with geeky statistics or they would correct your grammar by saying stuff like “technically you should not say ‘badly written’, you should say ‘poorly written’.”

At which point they were either stuffed into a gym locker or given a “wedgie.”

Not wanting to be that nerd I kept silent, at least that day…

But it got me to thinking about sayings and quotes that make no sense.  Seeing as how I have written a post on some of my favorite quotes and a more recent one on deep quotes, I figured why not address the issue of sayings and quotes that make no sense, once and for all!

So, without further ado, here we go with 18 sayings and quotes that make no sense – at least to me. Again, this is just my opinion, so if you interpret one of the quotes differently than I have, please have it and discuss in the comments below!

(1)  “Low man on the totem pole”

Meaning someone who has just joined a company and who has the lowest rank and least importance. The problem with this saying is that it is baseless in terms of the person on top of an actual totem pole being the most important. In fact, the lowest person on the totem pole is actually the most important! Think about it, if you have a totem pole that is 100 feet high, you don’t even know who is on top!

(2)  “It’s a dog eat dog world”

Meaning that the world is filled with ruthless competition. But, is the phrase ‘dog eat dog’ correct? Have you ever seen a dog eat another dog? I have not. The phrase actually contradicts an old Latin proverb, ‘anis caninam non est’ which literally translates to ‘dog will not eat dog’. Dogs do not eat dogs and if they did it would be a sign that the world is really messed up.

(3)  “What goes around comes around”

Not necessarily. Just because someone does something bad does not necessarily mean they will pay for it down the line.

(4)  “Good things come to those who wait”

I completely disagree with this one. Good things come to those who go out and make stuff happen.

(5)  “Rules are made to be broken”

No, rules are made to keep society from ending up in complete chaos!  Imagine what would happen if no one followed the rules. As an alternative, I do like “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” meaning it’s not about abusing situations but about knowing when to push the boundaries.

(6)  “When one door closes, another door opens.”

Does this mean if you get fired from your job, you will immediately get offered another one? Or if your boyfriend dumps you, ‘Prince Charming’ will be waiting to catch you on the rebound? I get the point, which is to be optimistic when something bad happens to you. But it makes it sound like it is automatically going to happen without any action on your part.

(7)  “Don’t worry, be happy.”

Sometimes in life, we worry. And as I wrote about in a previous post on stepping out of your comfort zone, a little anxiety is good and necessary to help motivate you and get you to take action and grow.

(8)  “There is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people”

There aren’t a lot of things in life that irk me, but 2 of them are stupid questions and stupid people. And stupid people who ask stupid questions? Oh boy! Back to this saying – I feel like it just gives people carte blanche to be lazy and ask stupid stuff. Here’s a test to see if something is a stupid question – If it is something you can Google instead of wasting someone’s time, in my opinion, it is a stupid question.

(9)  Pick the low hanging fruit

There are a couple reasons I don’t like this quote. (1) Growing up in the Niagara region in Canada, I picked a lot of fruit in my youth. If you start at the bottom you are filling up the basket and making it heavier as you go up, which does not make sense. (2) Also, the fruit at the top of the tree is riper because it gets more sun.

(10)  “Nothing is impossible”

I think most of us underestimate what we are capable of. But to say nothing is impossible I think is a bit much.  For example, no matter how hard I try to how much I work out, I will never be able to dunk a basketball.  Sometimes we have to acknowledge our limitations and move on.

(11)  “Mutual agreement”

This doesn’t make sense at all. The mutual part of the phrase is unnecessary – an agreement assumes it is mutual because if it is not mutual then it is a disagreement.

(12)  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”

According to this recipe, to make lemonade you need 3 things – lemons, water, and sugar. My point is if life gives you lemons it is impossible to make lemonade unless life gives you water and sugar as well.

(13)  “No use crying over spilled milk”

This is an old phrase that in my opinion needs to be retired as its time has passed. I realize that it originated at a time when you got milk from a cow and if you spilled it you were screwed if the cow had no more milk. But these days, you can simply go to the store and get more milk or call Uber eats to deliver you some.  While spilling milk may be upsetting to some, I am not sure anyone is going to literally cry when they spill some milk. I know it is used to mean that you shouldn’t spend time worrying about stuff that has happened because you can’t change it, I just think there are better ways of saying it.

(14)  “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

Apples are filled with sugar and eating an apple a day can mess up your teeth and cause erosion. ¹

(15)  Money can’t buy happiness

Simply not true according to the research.  Using money to buy experiences can make us happy – “Growing evidence reveals that it is experiences— not things— that make us happy. Many experiences, such as hikes with friends or family game nights, are virtually free. And many others— road trips, boozy dinners, sports tournaments, cooking lessons, and rock concerts— cost money” ²

(16)  “I could care less.”

I hear so many people saying this in the context of “I don’t care at all”. In reality, you are saying you could care less, meaning that you actually do care. The correct way to say it is ‘I couldn’t care less”.

(17)  “Please do not try this at home.”

I feel like people who are going to try this at home are going to try it at home regardless of whether you tell them to or not.

Before we go…

Speaking of quotes that make no sense, I was in the sauna again a couple nights ago when it happened again. Some college student said something about ‘competing with myself’. Instead of having the self-control to keep my mouth shut this time, I blurted out, “by definition, a competition must have a winner and a loser, so you can’t compete with yourself dude, but you can improve yourself”.

To my surprise, he looked at me like I was Yoda.

Before he had the chance to say anything, I realized what I had done and said to him ‘dude I must sound like the biggest nerd ever!”

To which he laughed said, “no, I never thought about it like that, but you are right”.

I guess sadly I have turned into the nerd I lamented earlier in this post.

Oh well, it is what it is!

Until next time, nerds are people too, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick ‘the Nerd’ Melnyck

P.S. If you are wondering what happened to #18 of the sayings and quotes that make no sense, I used it in my sign off – it is what it is. I hate this saying, it is almost like people use it as an excuse for not doing something. In yesterday’s post, I discussed some thinking traps that prevent us from being resilient. This saying, to me, is a form of helplessness – like you can’t do anything about it, so why try?

What Do You Think of These Quotes That Make No Sense?

Do you agree/disagree with my interpretations of the quotes that make no sense (to me) above? Do you have any other quotes that make no sense to you? Please share in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, it would mean the world to us if you shared it with people you care about via any of the social media platforms below!

Popular Previous Posts:

This is How to Give an Amazingly Memorable Tribute Speech
Jet Lag Recovery – This is How to Avoid the Drag of Jet Lag!
How to Increase Energy Levels: A Day in the Life of You!
19 Deep Quotes That Will Really Make You Think
The 11 Commandments of How to Be More Attractive

References

http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/dog_eat_dog/

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/148120/where-did-doggy-dog-world-come-from

1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10252881/Healthy-foods-that-are-apparently-bad-for-you.html

2 https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/04/6-ways-money-can-buy-happiness/