In all the English language there’s probably not a single idiomatic saying, aphorism, or expression quite as crazy, useless and potentially confusing as “It goes without saying...” Almost invariably, as soon as someone says it, the next thing out of their mouth is whatever could have--and probably would have served us better if in fact, it had--gone without saying.
The problem is once you blurt out, “It goes without saying,” you put yourself in a double-bind. Either you have to say whatever it is that, just nano-seconds earlier, you had said didn’t need to be said. Or, you decide to take your own advice and shut up which, of course, leaves your listener completely befuddled and hanging mid-thought. Have you ever in your life heard someone say, “It goes without saying…” and then say nothing?
Why then, might someone like me actually use this expression? Maybe it's because I deem something significant to the conversation at hand is so obvious to me that you needn’t waste your breath saying it, while at the same time, it appears to me it may not be quite so obvious to you (as it should be) so I’m going to say it just in case you don’t get it. Rather condescending, don’t you think?
The language we use to communicate with each other reveals a great deal about ourselves. This silly saying is just one example. How often we say things that don’t need saying. Or worse, things that are better NOT said. Period.
TODAY.
GIVE THE WORLD & YOURSELF A GIFT.
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK.
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