For example, if you said that someone had been fooled by something, would they take offense and think you’re calling them a fool or foolish?
What if you say someone’s been “played for a fool”?
Submitted 9 months ago by SeahorseTreble@lemmy.world to [deleted]
For example, if you said that someone had been fooled by something, would they take offense and think you’re calling them a fool or foolish?
What if you say someone’s been “played for a fool”?
The expressions “being fooled” and “being made a fool” have coexisted for a very long time.
at some point you have to trust something
I trust the floor of my bedroom to be there when I get up in the dark.
I trust my wife not to change the locks on the house when I’m out or not to murder me in my sleep
I trust my friends not to falsely accuse me of horrible crimes to the police
I trust the starbucks drive through is real and not a fake starbucks pretending to be starbucks
any one of these things could “fool” me at any time, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.
however, what I never trust is that there is a secret to get ahead quickly. Whatever it is, it’s always slow, expensive, with a lot of paperwork, requires practice and expertise, and will go wrong several times.
I trust the starbucks drive through is real and not a fake starbucks pretending to be starbucks
I trust the floor of my bedroom to be there when I get up in the dark.
Technically, you have an infinitesimally tiny but non-zero probability of experiencing a quantum tunnelling event at the macro scale that will have you drop through that floor without damaging it to land in the room below.
I’d say you’re more likely to get a positive response if you use words like “deceived” or “conned” or “lied to” which place the fault on the deceiver.
“Fooled” isn’t offensive per se; “chumped” is worse. But if I was wanting to convince someone that they had been maliciously given false information, I’d use language that doesn’t raise hackles by implicitly blaming them for being deceived.
Edit: “Played for a fool” is more offensive IMO, because now you’re pointing out that the victim has some exploitable flaw which allowed the deceiver to make a fool of them.
I’d say you’re more likely to get a positive response if you use words like “deceived” or “conned” or “lied to” which place the fault on the deceiver.
“Fooled” isn’t offensive per se, “chumped” is worse. But if I was wanting to convince someone that they had been maliciously given false information, I’d use language that doesn’t raise hackles by implicitly blaming them for being deceived.
IF you learn, THEN only temporarily.
IF you don’t/won’t learn, THEN you ARE a fool.
Fools are full of certainty. The wise are full of doubt.
100% agreed.
I ate a salad, am I a vegetarian?
Most likely just a salatarian for now
Not necessarily (you may or may not) but you shouldn’t be because Dairy is Scary (It’s a joke calm down)
Oh I agree You do not want to know what dairy does to me! (And the people around me)
Fool is a spectrum. E.g. take the saying “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me”. It’s possible to fool anyone. Sometimes it’s because they are a fool, but sometimes it’s not.
That is exactly what it means, yes. Though people will probably feel less happy if you point it out explicitly
Not necessarily, it means someone else was smarter than you, or exploited a weakness of yours, which might be your kind heart or your greed, rather than a lack of intelligence. Note: kindhearted people won’t mind being told this but greedy people will mind. Scammed or exploited put the onus on the perpetrator.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 9 months ago
Only if they do it twice.
kambusha@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.
cynar@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Apparently that quote was where a scriptwriter almost screwed Bush over.
The full phrase is “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Bush realised he was about to give the media a sound bite of him saying “Shame on me”.
Given the context, it’s far more understandable why he flubbed it.
TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world 9 months ago
That’s an old saying in Tennessee… I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee…
xmunk@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
But what if… we don’t get fooled again. Yeaaaaaah