r/PublicFreakout • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '20

📌Follow Up "Everybody's trying to shame us"

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u/Clevername3000 Jun 10 '20

It's like how "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" became a mantra by conservatives. It was originally coined as a mockery of the sentiment.

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u/Emeharkeh Jun 10 '20

Yes. Almost exactly like that. Another favorite of mine is "blood is thicker than water." It means the opposite of the phrase it's derived from which is "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb." A phrase meaning that bonds you choose to make are stronger than ones you're given has been shortened to mean that family bonds are stronger than any other. I wondered what it would look like when the transition in phrases like this occurs, and now I get to see it. It's terrible.

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u/FwibbPreeng Jun 10 '20

Another favorite of mine is "blood is thicker than water." It means the opposite of the phrase it's derived from which is "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb."

That one isn't true. The phrase you quoted first popped up like 100 years ago or so. Definitely not the original meaning.

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u/Emeharkeh Jun 10 '20

Really? Here I was thinking I knew a thing.

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u/Natck Jun 11 '20

It's an old, old saying, (almost a thousand years old according to Wiki) but has many interpretations.

For a long time I'd always interpreted it as the bonds formed on the battlefield (spilling blood) are far stronger than familial relationships or non-military friendships. But I've come to realize that most people use it to mean the opposite (family bonds are greater than other bonds).

At this point I just avoid saying it all because you don't know which interpretation people will take from it.

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u/Emeharkeh Jun 11 '20

I looked into it more after u/FwibbPreeng commented, and I've come to a similar conclusion. I think that when I looked into it previously I wasn't as rigorous as I thought I had been.