It’s a well-know phrase I recently saw tweeted.
“It isn’t bragging if it’s true.”
I’ve also heard it said, “If it’s true…it ain’t bragging.” Either version might be based on the late St. Louis Cardinal’s Hall-of-Fame pitcher, Dizzy Dean who reportedly said: “It ain’t braggin’ if ya’ can back it up.”
However…it’s not correct!
Actually, if it’s true, that’s what makes it bragging. One brags about something they’ve actually done, acquired or accomplished.
If it’s false, it’s…lying!
Seems to me it’s one of those sayings that’s been around for so long it’s simply become accepted as fact.
This post isn’t questioning why people brag, boast, or in any way toot their own horn.
Rather, it’s to not accept something as fact, even when it’s been repeated so often it appears to be self-evident. It’s often good to question those long-held “truisms.”
Are There Others?
What similar phrases, sayings or lessons can you think of? You know, the ones “they” have always said but, when thinking about it, are just not true.
Okay, I’ll start. They say that, “If it’s true it ain’t gossip.” Actually, the fact that it’s true is what makes it gossip. If it were false it would be slander.
You’re up! 🙂
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“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
It is in the mind and beliefs of the beholder.
I’m not sure this one fits in with the others but, “Right as Rain” is sometimes used to declare as FACT to something a person has said. What the heck does “Right as Rain” mean in the first place?
If I’m lying, I’m dying.
Aren’t we all in the process of dying regardless of whether we are being dishonest or truthful?
If you can’t beat ’em join ’em.
If I wanted to join them, I would not have trying to beat them in the first place.
How about this one… Winners never quit, and quitters never win. Not true. Sometimes you have to quit something that’s good, in order to have something that’s great
“Fall down 99 times and get up 100”. Isn’t it statistically impossible to get up one more time than you’ve actually fallen? 🙂
“I never said most of the things I said”. Yogi Berra
“Time heals all wounds.” When actually time wounds healing.
Please pardon me for not commenting on these individually. I’m just enjoying them as they come in. Thank you for sharing with us!
Not quite the same thing as your example, but…
“I could care less” doesn’t mean what most people intend, which is that they “couldn’t care less.” Not sure when or why that “n’t” got dropped…perhaps because “I could care less!” feels more emphatic in the heat of the moment?
At times we get hurt in our relationships and so we go on bragging others on something that happened so the other person can feel belittled and so we use the terminology “The Truth hurts.” We misuse truth for our own selfish agendas instead of respectfully approaching the individual on what he did. “The truth hurts” but two hurts make truth less of a healing factor and more of a destroyer. Thanks for this pose Bob!!
I may be ten years late with my comment, but I never knew that gossip was all true. I will be sure to pay much more attention to gossip, now that I know that it is all true!
Hi John, sometimes there’s just a seed of truth, but it’s enough to ruin someone’s reputation. And just because you heard something doesn’t mean it’s true. So actually, you wouldn’t know if it’s gossip, or if it’s libel/slander. Libel and slander are actually also forms of gossip. And even if some *unnecessarily* negative talk about someone is true, it’s harmful, and not something to pay attention to anyway. It adds no value to the world. My apologies for any confusion I might have caused. (On another note, I’m fairly certain you were kidding.) 🙂