scmnz wrote:
are they being literal or sarcastic?
That's no easy one. I'm trying my best to give a reasonable answer here.
Most of the time they don't mean what they are saying. They don't want you to die literally. They don't really dislike you that much. They could be upset for something you said or have done. In this case their current emotional state is transitional: they will probably regret what they just said - even if they don't tell you they are sorry afterwards. Saying they are sorry is optional and irrelevant, you can be confident they will be sorry though in an uncertain amount of time.
People don't want you to die then give it loud to you unarmed. Would make little sense. That sentence is a vulgar display of a transitional emotion that will vanish. Would make sense that you think things over seeking for what you could possibly have done wrong and ask why.
The possibility of sarcasm exists, for instance people saying "why don't you just die" when they are meaning something else like "you're too smart", "I love you", "I hate when you do that". This is when things become very difficult to understand.
What do I do? I always ask why they said that. This makes all clear and adds to my experience for when I hear that again.