We all know that men are from Mars and that women are from Venus, so it should be no surprise that each gender interprets things differently. When us women think we’re being transparent, somehow the message always gets muddled in the minds of men. That’s because what we say has a completely different meaning to our favorite emotionally inept creatures.
1. “It’s fine.”
OK, to be fair, we should never say things we don’t mean. However, men still haven’t realized that 99.99% of the time, when a woman says this, things AREN'T FINE.
Reading body language and verbal tone are crucial when communicating with people and women just so happen to be better at that. We think that by pouting our lips and muttering sullenly that they’ll take the hint… Spoiler alert: they don’t.
2. “It’s up to you.”
Gentlemen: if you hear this phrase, just back down now. If we had it our way, things would never be up to you. Women, being the occasionally passive-aggressive creatures that we are, never want to have to come out and say what we want you to do. We feel as though if you truly care, you’ll just do what we wanted in the first place.
3. “I don’t want a relationship right now.”
Although women are usually good at picking up on subtext and connotation, we still haven’t figured out that this phrase truly means: “I don’t want to date you… Like ever.” That three letter word, “now,” actually makes us hopeful that his mind will change in the future. Ladies, this sentence is just a nice way of turning you down while also keeping you around. Guys, if you really don’t want to date a girl (like ever) please be a little blunter so our optimistic, female minds can get the gist.
4. “Yeah, I’ll see.”
When a guy says this, he’s not going to actually go see. Us women think that he is truly going to look into whatever it is we asked him to, but really he’s just saying something to appease us so that we stop asking him to do something he never wanted to do in the first place.
5. “Aww, you’re so sweet.”
If you pour your heart out to a girl and this is what she responds with, you’re most likely already in the friend zone. Most women don’t enjoy outright turning a guy down, so we resort to giving them lukewarm responses until they realize we’re just not that into them. In other words, we actually mean, “Aww, I don’t know how to tell you I don’t feel the same way, so I’m just going to be nice and beat around the bush.”
If you’ve ever heard any of these phrases but interpreted them the wrong way, don’t fret. We all have. But now you know what they actually mean. The next time you’re having a conversation with your significant other, crush, or friend, make sure to be careful with what phrases you’re using. What you think you’re saying might actually mean something else!
