What well known maxims/rules are over exaggerated, but generally still true? (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Things like don’t shake a baby (babies love to be bounced and rocked, which are honestly just gentle shaking, but even moderately vigorous shaking can seriously injure or kill an infant and you should never shake a baby in anger or anything like that) or don’t take anything with you when exiting a building when a fire alarm goes off (don’t go looking for things, but you should still put your coat on if it’s next to you and it’s cold out). What other common maxims are generally good to follow, but over exaggerated? Bonus points if it’s only a well known saying because our instinct is to do the thing, like with rocking babies.

(Please don’t think I’m telling you to shake babies or look for and carry huge stacks of files out of a burning building)

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[-] [email protected] 38 points 4 weeks ago

Children and sex. Recently on local social media, there was a discussion on our topless laws. Of course, there were the predictable comments about women not going topless where children might see.

Well, why not, Karen? It's utterly ridiculous when you consider what breasts are for, and what children are meant to do with them. Yes, it's true the children shouldn't be engaging in sex acts, and the details of adult sexual behavior should be kept from them, since they're not equipped to understand, e.g. BDSM and power play, yet. But if kids see a pair of boobs, if kids see naked people, or even if kids know the basic functions of body parts, they'll be fine. Lots of kids throughout human history lived in small dwellings and heard, or even saw, parents and other members of their community having sex, and they all survived the experience.

Communicable disease? Now there's something that we should be protecting children from...

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

We try to keep our kids so disconnected from sex and death that it stunts them.

My 11-yo daughter was, unknown to me, sleeping on the couch when I walked out naked. Freaked her out at the time, but to her credit she seemed to later take it in stride. Her and her little brother are intensely worried about being seen naked.

Asked my kids what they would think if I took up squirrel hunting. "NO DAD! You can't kill animals!" So how about the chicken nuggets you're eating?

[-] [email protected] 18 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

blood is thicker than water - true
blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb - also true

Overall blood is pretty gloopy and goes down pretty well on spaghetti

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

I don't see why we should judge our associations by viscosity.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 weeks ago

Disagree, I think we need to stick together.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 4 weeks ago

"The gun is always loaded." That maxim is meant to engender proper safety habits, yet I've had people try to argue that it should always be taken literally. Then how the hell am I supposed to clean the damned thing?!

Related, but I have a hard time looking down the business end of a gun barrel, even if it's completed detached from the weapon, nothing but a steel tube. Guess the maxim worked on me!

[-] [email protected] 14 points 4 weeks ago

Don’t judge a book by its cover

[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 weeks ago

Ooh, that’s a good one! You should keep an open mind because people will surprise you, but generally people try to coordinate their outward appearance with their character. Again, not always because lots of things can impede that (clothing, health or financial restrictions, for example) and some people intentionally try to appear different from how they are.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 weeks ago

He's talking about books.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 weeks ago

There's an old saying in software development: The only thing worse than no optimization is premature optimization.

It can be a true statement (if a bit hyperbolic), but far too many people seem to think it means "don't worry about performance until the end."

You should pay attention to code optimization throughout development and take time to solve rough spots periodically. You just have to know that some optimization strategies can become tech dept by gumming up on-going development.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I knew some development strategies can become costly in the long term but I didn't know they'd form whole departments /s

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 weeks ago

"No news is good news" depends on the situation. If your current situation is good and you don't want it to change, then no news is good news. But if say, you're waiting to hear if you got a job you want, you want news

[-] HobbitFoot 5 points 4 weeks ago

An idea is worth its weight in gold.

How much does an idea weigh?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 weeks ago

I think it's actually "a [noun] is worth it's weight in gold", it's just that an idea is a type of noun

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

This is why we have a tech bro problem in the US (and a VC bro problem, which fuels the other one).

this post was submitted on 30 May 2025

56 points (98.3% liked)

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