"You're over-thinking it."

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I get this quite a bit.

A group was studying for Spanish and I decided to join them. So one member is saying some words and we would have to give the meaning. So the person says what I thought was "bebida" and I said "drink" as in beverage.

Turns out, the person said "beber" which is the infinitive: TO drink.

I explained that I thought I heard "bebida" so I gave the definition to that.

One person, who often accuses me of over-thinking stuff, said "Oh, you're over-thinking it."

Another example was when some girls were asking me about the plot for a story (The Yellow Wallpaper) we had to read for English class. I finished the questions assignment the day before and emailed it to the teacher ahead of time (it's easier for me to type than to write manually). The girls were finishing the questions right before the second period (English class) and they asked me what the conflict was.

I said it could be (wo)man vs. him/herself, because the protagonist is battling nervous depression and anxiety, which becomes insanity.

I also said it could be (wo)man vs. man, because the protagonist's husband, who is a physician advocating the "rest cure", ignores her insight. In his attempt to help her, he ultimately drives her to her end state. This I found off of Sparknotes and I thought it made a lot of sense, so I decided to think about it a little and put it as my answer.

They DIDN'T read the story, but accepted my answer nonetheless. After they decide to read the story, they decided I was "over-thinking it", they were saying "Oh, it's not because the husband listened to her, she was just insane". They didn't give me the chance to explain that I found it off of Sparknotes and read the information about the context of the story.

On Sparknotes, there was an analysis, some information about the author, and an overall synopsis about the story.

Below is some information about the book from the website.

I admire your intellect. If you get with like-minded people, they will love your "over-thinking it".

There is always more meanings to something simple, I dare you to try to find something that only has one meaning. You will be hearing that a lot. I see and hear deeper meaning in a lot of things, even Harry potter.

what they mean is that you are so much smarter than them that what you consider to be nothing....would be a huge intellectual undertaking for them. I'm right there with you. It's taken me this much of my life so far to learn how to interact on an intellectually shallow enough level for most people. It's still a strain for me, and I can't keep it up for more than brief conversations. It's like living in a world populated by 3 yr olds. When they say you're over thinking....they're trying to express that it's a mental strain for them to understand what you're telling them...they are either asking you to dumb down your thought process for them...or are frustrated that you have to dumb yourself down in order to hold a conversation they can participate in.

Don't feel self conscious. Try to feel some empathy...or at least pity. Try to avoid feeling frustrated at their mental shortcomings, though. They are doing the best they can with what they have.

Because even thinking the question "why" is not something they naturally do....they're simple. Right - Wrong is ALL their brains had in them at that time....and they were struggling to master those! You introduced new, complicated topics...that had no baring on the task they were set to. They were trying to learn Spanish. Why you got an answer wrong is a different subject, which would frankly require them to stop thinking about Spanish for the moment, because their minds can't process multiple concepts at the same time. From your description, it sounds like even one is a stretch. lol

^ I second that.

Thing is, it annoys people because they are forced to try and explain (or think about) something they don't understand yet just do because all they know is what their function is in relation to other pieces of the machine ...they never try to look beyond the pieces and see the whole picture (the whole machine) and understanding it.

The 'you're overthinking it' reply is their way of saying 'I dont understand it and I dont need or want to understand it since i've seen the little part of the whole that allows me to remain in my bovine state of mind'.

In my last job my managers reffered to me as 'Dr Why' .. because I always asked the why behind anything and everything we did. Pissed them off when I did that but 6 months later I knew their systems and departments better than they did and then they were wondering how the heck I was outperforming them.

Mooo

i kinda disagree with the general consensus on this thread. i don't think we can assume these people are stupid. willfully ignorant, perhaps, but not necessarily stupid. i don't think i'm splitting hairs by making this distinction, because i think what's important here is WHY they choose to remain ignorant. i liked what someone above has said about not looking at the bigger picture. i think that's true.. people can feel threatened at times by the thought of lifting their heads to look at something outside their known system of things. it certainly helps to explain an otherwise bizarre accusation with the spanish case. for whatever reason (maybe they know or feel that your upcoming spanish test will be focused on simpler forms or words), that person wanted to stay focused on that root "beber" whereas you saw no problem jumping around to whatever derivatives or whatnot you've learned so far. seems like just wanting to stay on one level. seems like a security thing.

Perhaps you should try to be more concise in your statement.

A meaningful sentence 1 or 2 is better than a long-winded analysis.

And if people are interested for more, let them ask.

Let them savor your knowledge like a delicious meal. Don't force it down their throat.

I think it depends on the situation. Sometimes I AM over-thinking something, and I find this out when the final answer is something so simple that I never considered it. Other times, I think the other answers given here are correct: Those people would rather not have to admit that they are under-thinking it, and would rather say you are over-thinking it when there is nothing wrong with going the extra mile.

I still barely understand the Spanish situation. Explaining that you heard it wrong is NOT EQUAL TO over-thinking.

Maybe the other person thought you were over-thinking not the Spanish lesson directly, but the need to explain why you gave the wrong answer?

Always keep in mind as well that just because they say something like, "you're over-thinking it," doesn't necessarily make it correct.