Jan 28, 2010
Crying wolf works both ways: Not everything can be awesome and exclamation-pointy.
Just like opinions from uberpessimists are devalued because they hate everything, if someone loves everything, they’re probably nice, but still not trustworthy.
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I immediately think of Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods. Everything he tastes is “fantastic” or “delicious.”
“..exclamation-pointy.” Nicely done!
I have found this especially true of movie recommendations.
Amen to that! F
I have definately seen a good amount of terrible films that were “great movies.”
I was thinking this about Pioneer Woman’s blog.
She’s got some great recipes and she’s a talented writer, but she writes as if every single recipe she makes is the most delicious thing she’s ever tasted in her entire life. It’s not true and I don’t really trust her descriptions like I used to.
It’s sort of like contests where everyone wins.
Well played.
Amen!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Reminds me of advice some editor [don't recall the book at all] who was talking about profanity in writing.
It was about page 156, so a good half way through the book when they brought up the topic and said something to the effect of “One [insert f word here] in 75,000 words will startle people more than 200.”
Talking about dropping your jaw.
It’s kind of like not being able to trust truthful people, because you never know when they are going to lie. However you know that you should never believe a lier because they always lie.
I wrote about this recently. I have tried to stop using the word “awesome” unless, of course, I am referring to God.
http://docsdining.blogspot.com/2009/10/choose-your-words-carefully.html
Ouch.
Yep … Ouch!
A classic example of this is people who over-endorse books. I love RC Sproul. But his recommendation on a book from a Reformed publisher means almost nothing to me any more. I wonder if he even has time to read only the books he endorses….
That reminds me of the overuse of the phrase ‘This book will change your life!’ on the backs of books. I don’t remember if any of those allegedly ‘life-changing’ books I have read have actually changed my life, but I think that the ones that actually did impact me profoundly didn’t ever claim that they would…
What about if they are just genuinely really enthusiastic people that really like lots of things and see value in the hidden places (like jars of clay)? Surely the Joy of the Lord can have that effect?!?!?!?!?!?!?
LOVE this, which probably makes me untrustworthy:)….
That’s an amazing, incredibly awesome thought!!!! :)
A mom-blog I read immediately came to mind when you mentioned this. At first I thought her blog was awesome, as she always had some great deals posted that she had found on the internet and generally liked helping mommas get great deals. Now I’ve realized every blog post is about something she “LOVES” and the fine print at the bottom mentions she’s been compensated for the post but her “opinions are her own” or something like that. Makes me wonder about all those things I read at first ~ were they really that great or was she getting compensated for those too?
I don’t trust her like I used to.
hollywood actors are pretty obvious about this. everybody was great to work with, etc.
but I usually answer “how are you” with “I’m well” or some positive response even if I’m not. But ya, that may be different than totally overstating something. But maybe by degrees?