No Fence Meant - No Fence Taken
Part of my difficulty with words and phrases is due to the fact that as a young boy I spent every Saturday morning and weekday afternoon watching old (40's era) cowboy movies.
So here is a piece of dialogue I once heard......
"Sorry, didn't mean any fence"
"Well, no fence meant, no fence taken!"
Of course I was glad that no fence was taken. And to complicate the matter, a recurring plot in the old westerns was property lines, grazing rights and fence tampering! What's a boy to do????
So I went to my source of wisdom at the time.... My dad. He explained that the word was O-ffense, not fence.
So I had to learn about offense. Turns out you can take an offense and you can give offense. The hard part is to not be the cause of offense and not allowing an offense to enter your life.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems we live in a world that seems to be falling apart due to the offense! By the time we write copy that is completely unoffensive, we end up with statements that don't really mean what they were intended to say.
In my line of work, it becomes a bit frustrating. But I do believe it is our jobs personally NOT to offend and NOT to take offense.
Another thing I used to hear was:
If you can be offended, you will be offended and you need to be offended.
Sounds kind of mean, but it's not. There's only one way I have found that helps me. I have chosen not to allow offense in my life. I just kicked it out!
Refuse to allow offense to enter and it will sweeten every relationship. But your doings so will be tested.
Lack of offense is like really good fragrance. It attracts! And that's what we want, right?
Just sayin
BigDaddyFred
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Another great post, and I still watch western movies today and there is a lot about fencing in that time and even more today(not land fence either); I think RudViolet said it better than I ever could!
Another one I like is when you assume that somebody has done the job in question,you turn round and say to do not assume anything of the kind because assume makes an ASS out of U and ME.I hope you get it.
I like the bit about refusing to allow offense to enter your life. Great philosophy!
Dennis
We were told growing up, the best way to overcome an o-ffense, was to jump the 'fence!!!
Great article again, thanks!!!
Haha!! Well put Fred :) Even in leaving feedback comments on here - we are terrified of upsetting anyone. But as someone said to me, if people are easily offended then they shouldn't ask. And sometimes the truth does hurt, but it's better to take that and turn it into something positive than to huff about it. :)
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No "fence" taken Fred! lol! Great uplifting, Bigdaddyfredish post, which is usually pretty good! Thanks Fred!