Phrases I Dislike & Why.

Hello team squad mother fluffers deluxe. I hope you are all having a great day! How am I, you ask? Well this morning I heard one of the few phrases that annoy the heck out of me so I thought, hey, let’s make a little “blog” post about it. Now number 1; If you are guilty of any of these, this is nothing against you, it is simply things I’ve heard a lot, I have defended a lot, and I will continue to argue… a lot. And number 2; to follow on directly from the previous point, I am very aware that most of these phrases only annoy me because they put me in a defensive state and that's a me-problem. So without further or do, let the phrase bashing commence.

“What’s Up/ What You Saying” (Specifically as a greeting)

Now I’m starting off really lightly here, and that’s because I tend to get more “ranty” with some of the other phrases I’ve chosen to discuss. The main reason this phrase annoys me is simply because it really confuses me as a greeting, and for some reason my brain goes into overdrive when I hear it. It’s one of those things that I just can’t get my head around.

I get it if I am looking really upset and someone is asking me to tell them what’s wrong, to vent, to let it out so to speak, but when used as a greeting, my brain very quickly runs through these questions; Are you saying hey? Are you asking me how I am? Are you asking me to vent my deepest feelings to you? Is it all three? Who knows? Not me, that's for sure.

“I’m more of a dog person”

As you all know, I have three cats. They are all gorgeous angels and in equal parts bundles of chaotic nightmare. And when I hear this phrase it feels like people are saying my tiny fluffs are not as important as your tiny (or not tiny) fluffs. And the thing is, there's just no need to say this at all! All animals are beautiful and we do not deserve any of them, (except mosquitos they suck and can get in the bin.) I think my main peeve when I hear this phrase is that it always seems like the person saying it is looking down on you as if they are better for liking (in their opinion) a ‘superior’ animal. For example, I would never dream of telling someone that is showing me a photo of their new puppy that I prefer cats, but it’s deemed absolutely fine to do it the opposite way round.

“I’m not flexible enough to do yoga”

Often people ask me what hobbies I have, and I will respond with “oh I do yoga” and I can’t tell you the amount of times people instantly retort with “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga” - I understand this is the misconception around yoga because people begin to imagine people doing crazy twisted up moves whilst in a hand stand etc, but it is simply not true!

Yoga is all about creating space in the body that wasn’t there before usually through breathing, flexibility is just an added bonus that improves once you start moving your body! It’s the same with strength. I am NOT strong, honestly ask my band members. They've seen me attempt to load out with them and I am more of a hindrance than a helping hand. But little by little my strength is improving, and that is just a beneficial side effect of practising yoga.

I think it’s one of those things people don’t understand until they do it. It took me a while to truly get it as I struggle to switch off my brain and get into the right mindset, but once you’re in-you’re in! It feels a bit like you’ve joined a cult because you suddenly feel all these benefits hit you that you’ve been told about for months, and it feels good! Which is why I will always encourage everybody to try yoga, it really is for everyBODY. Don’t let the “I’m not flexible enough” mindset hold you back!

“You just sound like Paramore”

You all knew it was coming and I’m about to break down why this phrase annoys the whole band.

Let’s start by saying, I love paramore, all of you know that I love paramore.

BUT

When people state “you just sound like paramore” it really is a slap in the face for many reasons.

1. No we don’t. Musically we are different. Vocally we have completely different tones. For example, our Happier. album was massively inspired by My Chemical Romance musically, and not one single person has ever said “you just sound like My Chemical Romance” because they hear a female voice, and automatically put us into a “female fronted” box.
2. The reason people say this is because paramore are the biggest band with a female, and automatically all bands with a female are put into a genre called ‘Female Fronted” - Female Fronted is not a genre, it is merely a way for the industry to say hey there's a girl in this band so add these to your festival line up so you don’t get called out for not being diverse.
3. The word “just” automatically adds a negative connotation which implies that we are copying them. This whole copycat nonsense is only raised because I am a female, and Hayley Williams is also a female.
4. If I were a man, people would say we were influenced by another band, they would not say that we are the same as another band. As an example, Ande is the first to admit that all of his lead guitar is directly influenced by Slash, and not one reviewer, radio presenter, or critic, has ever said that Ande’s guitar playing sounds “just like Slash” as a negative - it’s always phrased as “it’s refreshing to hear a pop punk guitarist influenced by 80’s guitar heroes.”

Okay, we’re done! Rant is officially over as I feel like I could go on and on - here's hoping I haven’t waffled too much already🙈

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Bethanyyy

As always please feel free to drop me a comment if you have any ideas for new “blog” post topics!