Am I Allergic to the Words YOU SHOULD?
— is there an ointment for that?
When I vomited out the first story called Pleeease Stop Shoulding On Me I had no idea this would become a series. HA!, but hey —you know how the muse is. Sometimes you have to follow it. I've inspired again. So, here is PART 2 of my ‘series’ about my dislike for the words YOU SHOULD. I guess I had more to say on this subject
(This is my 2nd RANTICLE. Rant + Listicle! By the way, I THOUGHT I invented a never before thought of word Ranticle but it turns out it wasn’t an original thought. Oh welll… I still love the word and plan to use it often.)
I’ve written before about my dislike and great aversion for the 2 words: YOU SHOULD. For some reason, my back goes up when I hear these words. I find it rude when someone says them to me in person but also in the many headlines and titles of articles here on MuddyUm and elsewhere.
A friend of mine (who also is not fond of being SHOULD ON) said,
“Hey, ya know the word SHOULD sounds a heck of a lot like the word SHIT!”
So, STOP SHOULDDING ON ME is similar to STOP SHITTING ON ME!?
Today, ironically I saw 5 more YOU SHOULD headlines. Yup, 5!
1. Why YOU SHOULD do Yoga Daily. (Nahh. Maybe I shouldn’t!)
2. Why YOU SHOULD Use Typescript With Vue. (What’s Vue?)
3. 5 Things YOU SHOULD Do Before Lunch.(Damn 5? That’s asking a lot!)
4. Why I Stopped Helping People and YOU SHOULD Too. ( I should stop helping people?)
5. Why YOU SHOULD Be a Morning Person. (What if I prefer being a NIGHT PERSON? I might just get more done in the evening. I might sleep in all day!?)
Ok, obviously those writers didn’t read my last article (How dare they not?) because there’s still a glut of YOU SHOULD stories flooding my feeds! Oh well, maybe this second article will make the point clearer. Maybe all who write YOU SHOULD titles SHOULD listen up. Maybe what YOU SHOULD know is this:
Here comes the LISTICLE part of the RANT.
- Many many writers I know don’t like the words YOU SHOULD being thrown in their faces.
2. Maybe You SHOULD stop to think of how condescending those 2 words YOU SHOULD really are. They are confining and sound judgemental and preachy. They sound a bit like fingernails on a chalkboard.
3. Maybe YOU SHOULD realize even if you think someone SHOULD do something maybe they should not.
4. Maybe you SHOULD BE more aware of the way these two words might grate on a person’s last nerve and turn them off from ever reading your YOU SHOULD articles in the future. Your YOU SHOULD headlines just might be doing you a disservice because people might not click on them.
Just sayin…
Here’s something else YOU SHOULD know?
I really think YOU SHOULD just stop giving unsolicited advice and or suggestions by telling us what we should and shouldn’t do. We aren’t children. Maybe YOU SHOULD reconsider what you're doing. Maybe YOU SHOULD keep those 2 words under lock and key and YOU SHOULD reconsider ever using them again.
I have one final request:
(YOU SHOULD sounds a lot like YOU MUST and saying YOU MUST is just as annoying so please please refrain from YOU MUST stories too.)
If you would or if you could try exchanging the words SHOULD for the words would or could (like I pleaded in my first article) it would sure be appreciated by many readers. If you stop the YOU SHOULDS and the SHOULDDING ON EVERYONE …
…it might just be a lovelier world.
Thank you!
Oh, a wonderful trailblazin’ girlfriend just said this to me.
Shoulda just rolls of my back because I have hardly ever listened to anybody’s advice about anything. I said, ‘that’s why we’re friends. You should know that.’
