No Disrespect
by Scott Hardie on July 23, 2019
One of my pet peeves is people saying, "Have you ever noticed that the phrase 'no disrespect' is immediately followed by something disrespectful?"
Well, YEAH. That's the point of the phrase. It's intended to provide context, so that you don't take the next statement as a deliberate insult. If I said, "you should see your barber for a refund," it would sound like an insult about an ugly haircut. But if I said, "I don't mean any disrespect, but you should see your barber for a refund," it would sound like constructive advice about how to handle bad service.
Do the people acting clever by pointing this out think that the phrase is supposed to be followed by a nice statement? "No disrespect, but you look terrific today" would sound incongruously weird, like someone was sarcastically suggesting that you look bad. You'd puzzle over it for a moment, not sure what to think.
Pointing out that "no disrespect" is followed by something disrespectful is just so oblivious as to purpose. It's like pointing out, "Have you ever noticed that people opening their umbrellas is followed by heavy rainfall starting?" What did you think the point was?
Besides that, the joke is a cliché by now. I've heard it at least a half-dozen times. That's why I was doubly disappointed to hear it come up on the new season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Two longtime professional comics should not produce such a lazy, pointless, and hackneyed joke.
One Reply to No Disrespect
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
Tooth in Advertising
Every time I go to the local Carmike cinema and watch their pre-show reminders montage, I wind up thinking about dentists. First they show King Kong howling with those yellowish fangs – he needs a veterinary dentist. Then it's the pirates of the Caribbean; they have gold teeth so they need dentists too. Go »Halloween Party 2006
Last night I had the privilege to attend a Halloween party thrown by Miah (Jeremiah) Poisson and his fiancée Ines Sarante, which doubled as Miah's birthday party. My thanks to the hosts! I had a great time. Go »The Ten Best Films of 2010 That I Saw
10) The Other Guys - An offbeat and frequently hilarious comedy seemingly performed by the seats of the actors' pants. Its randomness may turn off some, but the jokes clicked for me. How nice to have a movie so reminiscent of The Naked Gun in the year of Leslie Nielsen's passing. Go »Can't Live With Her, Can't Live Without Her
This is the truncated version of a much longer and more ambitious post about my relationships and why I don't blog about them. Let's just leave the reason at "duh." Denise and I tried being friends again after breaking up, but it was based on each of us not saying what we really thought of the other, which is always unwise. Go »I Can Deflect Staples
Should you call your day a complete wash if your greatest creative achievement was paper fastener nunchucks? Go »
Aaron Shurtleff | July 24, 2019
I'm not racist, but...