Ask HN: Advice that changed your life?

Post by gabereiser » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 3:20 PM UTC

jemmyw wrote: post #131

javajosh wrote: post #124

My mother told me to not care what other people thought. She also told me that words can't really hurt people ("sticks and stones..."). She also believed its "mean" to have any preference about people, calling it a version of "keeping score". In fact, "keeping score" was one of the worst things you could be accused of in my household. Her advice fails to accept the reality of social and emotional needs. It also fails…

To be fair to your mother, this particular advice and view was rampant when I grew up in the 80s/90s. My experience was that this is quite backwards. Physical altercations at school didn't hurt that much, but the name calling, social shunning and constant verbal put down was very painful and has affected my whole life.

Post by kortilla » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

MonkeyClub wrote: post #336

chiefalchemist wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to nitpick, but the words have no value. The value comes from what you or me assign to them. Certainly there are things in your past (or mine) that we heard and effectively ignored. But if heard again we'd laugh or cry. The point is, the meaning we attach to the words are literally in our heads. We determine the worlds they create. It's not the other way around.

> Not to nitpick, but the words have no value. The value comes from what you or me assign to them. I don't think this holds, otherwise every libel suit would be thrown out of court on the basis of "that's what you think it means". Not to mention that we have dictionaries that record the assigned meanings of words :-)

Post by gabereiser » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

MonkeyClub wrote: post #329

oneoff786 wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suing to threaten the pensions of underpaid teachers. Makin’ a difference in the world.

Does raise an interesting question, though: Is it the teachers' or the parents' responsibility to teach manners to a child? Isn't this something that you'd pick up at home first, before ever stepping a foot into an institutionalized pedagogical setting? Perhaps instead of suing the entire school district, GP should rather sue the parents of the offending child? /s To remove the tongue from the cheek, though, and prov…

Post by ThePowerOfFuet » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 3:22 PM UTC

jart wrote: post #130

amelius wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He very curtly told me that he hates generic top-level domains, they confuse consumers Perhaps someone should tell you that consumers hate advertisements, and they are confused by them too :)

Consumers also hate paying for things. I've always thought when Google came along that it was a shining beacon for being the one corporation that gives everything away for free.

Post by solveit » Sat, Oct 29, 2022, 3:25 PM UTC

jazzyk wrote: post #254

wodenokoto wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can break hearts”

Words can break hearts when they come from a loved one, or someone you look up to. Why would what some random person says break your heart?