Why Do People Say That?

Post Reply New Topic

A lady pointed to a mouse and said "Look. A little mouse". It was an adult mouse so it was not little. I told her it was an adult. I asked her that if she thought that this mouse was little, how big she thought a big version should be?

She meant it was little compared to her. She knew it was an adult. If it were little, she'd probably call it a baby mouse. By the way, what did she answer?

I agree, probably more about comparative size.

A turn of phrase that parents often use with their children so that it becomes part of their vocabulary - used in a non-thinking, illogical way.

The usual. "I know that".

There's a difference between something that's little and something that's young. Like an elephant for example. Sometimes I'll say something like, "Look at the cute little baby elephant", and then I have to add, "Well, maybe not little."

She's saying it's little because it is, compared to most other things we notice.

She's not saying it was little, for a mouse.

In comparison to us, they’re tiny. We’re probably like a size of a dinosaur to them.

The average size of a dinosaur is the size of a small dog.

You cant go through life being THAT autistic, and taking things THAT literally.

She meant "look! Its a cute little animal, that happens to be a mouse".

As opposed to saying "look...its vermin!"

That is "lets behold the cute thing, and then place it outside so it doesnt harm us, and we dont harm it". As opposed to saying "somebody stomp that thing to death please!".

Something like that.

Its the volumes of text between the lines that you need to read.

Agreed. Mice are small animals, so it is common to say "look at that little mouse". I should think the OP is smart enough to know that.

Some people use the word "little" when expressing sympathy too, like if someone called Jane was hurt and you might say "poor little Jane" even if Jane's an adult.

To be fair it isn't smart in the sense of intellect that causes one to reach that understanding. And you're not mean for not understanding that observation might hurt MG's feelings. And I'm not mean for leaving this post that might make you feel guilty for your post.

Oh wait, yes I am because I just had this insight.
Oh well, I am mean.

I know why people say it. It is more that they say the wrong thing in a technical way and do not want to be corrected.

I suppose it is difficult to resist the urge to correct someone. A bit like when I have an urge to correct spelling mistakes and people get annoyed when I do. I just can't stand spelling mistakes with such simple words, especially if a person appears to be a good speller otherwise but repeatedly spells one easy word wrong. I just can't resist!

Certain (majority) of NTs don't care if they're wrong or not.

It annoys me about them.

Annoys me more when we come out with it ourselves. Because so many of them do it that it seems like it's part of the NT mind somehow.

Even though not all of them do it.

To me little means small. Which may or may not be linked with its age (obviously it started out smaller but some adult mice are smaller than other adult mice).

She meant 'look, little animal. It's a mouse'. Which is true. But it might not be the smallest mouse. It might actually be quite a big mouse in comparison to all the other mice.

Yes. I know the felling.

She did not say, "Look, a __ centimeters-long mouse." "Little" is a relative term, and can be used as shorthand for "cute little." If you really want to talk about what's correct, you can also recognize it as a synonym for "insignificant."