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Speaking of Trump, Jon Stewart pointed out something interesting recently - it's clear he's always lying, because no-one says 'believe me' when they're not lyin
by vacri 10y ago
Speaking of Trump, Jon Stewart pointed out something interesting recently - it's clear he's always lying, because no-one says 'believe me' when they're not lying. And Trump says it all the time.
"I didn't take the last cookie... believe me"
- reitanqild 10y agoit's clear he's always lying, because no-one says 'believe me' when they're not lying. Is that an general thing in English-speaking countries or just American? Where I grew up I think it would be perfectly fine to say this even when I have been speaking the truth all the way. (Don't want to defend Trump. I don't like him. Just curious about the idiom or whatever this is.)
- vacri 10y agoI'm Australian, and after hearing Stewart say that, I thought back on my own experiences. The only time I can recall it being used in a somewhat truthful manner is in an angry parental warning "Believe me, you're going to suffer if you continue that way" - some sort of threat that the person in question can carry out. Every other time, it's been bluster with no substance. I mean seriously, if you throw out the question "Okay, who dropped the production database?" and one of the staff said "It wasn't me. Believe me!", that's kind of instant suspicion right there. It's a really weird thing to say in the contexts that Trump says it in.
- HelloNurse 10y agoGood examples of the difference between "you'd better believe me" and "I hope you believe me". The latter case is of course more common.
- gpawl 10y agohttps://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A37&version=ESV https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A37&... "Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."