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 »
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 »Cold Turkey
Last night, we visited friends to celebrate "orphans Thanksgiving," for those of us who don't travel north to see our families. My family lives right here in Sarasota and we already had a nice holiday dinner on the beach (mmm grouper), but I wasn't about to miss a gathering with friends. The food was good and the company was great, but what I didn't expect was the cold, or I'd have put on more than a t-shirt and light slacks. Go »Spirit
I've always felt like my life's dream was to quit my job and spend all my time online. I wouldn't only do that, of course – if I won the lottery and quit my job, I'd also travel and take classes and throw parties and do other things – but let's face it, I'd spend a lot of time working on this site and talking to people online. Last night I dreamed I was a ghost, recently passed. Go »The Dragon
This is the first of four weekly blog posts about diagnoses that have completely changed my life since the pandemic started. Let's get the gravest one out of the way first. Until recently, I never appreciated how essential the future was to your mental health. Go »Open Letter to the Couple in Post-Op Bay 18 at Lee Memorial
I had a minor surgical procedure yesterday morning. As I laid in post-op for an hour, I could not sleep due to the middle-aged couple in the next bay who were watching and loudly discussing the news. Here are some things that I would like for them to know: - The Uvalde massacre was not faked by Democrats to take people's guns away. Go »
Aaron Shurtleff | July 24, 2019
I'm not racist, but...