Well, not really, but close. I hear a TON of annoying things in a day and this was what stuck.
It was: "I need you to do me a favor."
In my mind, one is supposed to request a favor. As in: "Can you please do me a favor?" Not tell someone they have to do something to accommodate a need.
It came out of the mouth of someone who acts smarter than they are, and it is impossible to tell this person anything because they think they know everything anyway. Which may also explain the annoyance.
Before you think that I am a complete phrasing madwoman, let me just point out that I am very good at saying things like "the proof is in the pudding" and "having your cake and eating it too".
Of course the proof isn't IN the pudding, but rather the proof is in the eating of said pudding. And really what people want is to eat their cake and then still have it for later.
All this just to say that you shouldn't tell people to do you favors. You ought to be asking. And I swear I am not this retentive about things in general. But really at the end of the day, our language is all we've got, so we ought to use it correctly.
1 comment:
Love this post! I worked with someone who always said "I need you to do this." It irritates the bleep out of me.
Thanks -- nice to know that someone else is also annoyed about this downright rude behavior.
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