Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Understatements

Let me tell you a story about an event that was understated.

An alien by the name of Gogud lived on a planet 100 light years away from ours, which was not very close to Earth. He was only 24 centimeters in height, so he wasn't the tallest person around. He had blue eyes and orange skin, which isn't really the most common appearance that aliens typically have. His house had a cracked roof, and not very much heating, that the walls would have provided if it was a slightly better house. Rain was always leaking in and Gogud was not very warm at night, so these weren't the best living conditions.
The sun he lived under was a red giant, putting most things under a red light. The sun was not very small in the sky and the red light didn't look so good on the purple grass.
Gogud's right leg was a bit shorter than his left leg, so his way of walking was not so good. As he tried to walk to his well he fell over and hit the ground with a force of 12 newtons, which was a bit painful.
Then the sun started expanding, and the red glow covered everything. Soon it would engulf the planet, superheating it until it completely melted and became nothing, which Gogud realized would not feel so good.
You might say he didn't like that.


...

What the hell is wrong with people? How did it get this bad? People in real life are constantly watering down their explanations about bad things that happen, people who are disadvantaged, and even the quality of something they bought. If something sucks, say it sucks. Nobody should be offended when you tell them that a hammer you just bought is useless or too heavy. If you have a kid who violently retches upon eating a certain food, or dreads meeting a certain person, do NOT tell anybody that they 'don't like it'. Obviously they hate the person, food or other thing. Understatements can and will confuse people into not doing something or thinking a problem isn't as bad as it really is.
So tell the truth... Unless it's too brutal, you gotta worry about that a bit.

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