39

Just (bradfrost.com)

almost 8 years ago from , Consultant Designer & Developer

13 comments

  • Bevan StephensBevan Stephens, almost 8 years ago (edited almost 8 years ago )

    I read this as:

    "When going out of your way to give me free advice and technical support please be sensitive to my ego"

    10 points
  • Suleiman Leadbitter, almost 8 years ago

    Maybe I missed the point but I feel text loses a great deal of meaning compared to speech and I believe many people have this problem. Trust me, my sarcasm is never taken how it should be.

    So based on that maybe, just maybe some folks are saying

    “Just update your ruby gems, generate a new SSH key, and run a git rebase…“

    They really mean:

    “Hey Brad, things are cool, I've had this problem and I found out after searching for days for a solution the answer was actual a lot more simple, like so many other things and I just updated my ruby gems, generated a new SSH key, and ran a git rebase, and then everything was cool… Hey you live and learn, right? All the best buddy and I hope this helped you out!“

    7 points
    • Jonathan ShariatJonathan Shariat, almost 8 years ago

      Thats exactly why we need to be careful of "just". It betrays the person's intention behind their statement and makes their statement sound condescending.

      This is also why Twitter can create a lot of friction. 140 characters forces you to remove extra indicators one would add to convey your meaning/context. So often people read them wrong and get hurt, frustrated, or confused.

      1 point
      • John PJohn P, almost 8 years ago (edited almost 8 years ago )

        Think the real solution is stop expecting to get ANYTHING of value out of Twitter. It's a ridiculous service, fails at conversation, fails at media sharing, fails at pretty much everything but throw away quips and mass harassment.

        Hard to convince someone deeply invested in Twitter this but it's true.

        1 point
    • Joey Di Nardo, almost 8 years ago

      I don't think it's a courtesy issue; I think he's targeting empathy... 'just' betrays the comfort level the speaker has with the task at hand, not taking into account the perspective of the receiver.

      3 points
  • ポール ウェッブポール ウェッブ, almost 8 years ago

    Excellent post.

    4 points
  • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, almost 8 years ago

    Don't say 'just'. Somebody might get offended.

    2 points
  • adrian ioadrian io, almost 8 years ago

    I think when people start their sentence with 'Just' it's not to make you feel like an idiot, but actually the opposite, it's mainly to say it's a straight forward task.

    1 point
  • Duke CavinskiDuke Cavinski, almost 8 years ago

    There was indeed a time when Frost (and others) used to do a lot of Photoshop shaming ("just prototype in browser"), which yeah, is increasingly difficult to do compared to a few years ago.

    0 points
  • Anwar ChoukahAnwar Choukah, almost 8 years ago (edited almost 8 years ago )

    Slightly off topic, but my 'favourite' 'just' ever was at work when head of marketing handed me some wire frames and said: 'Can you just colour these in?' I've hated her ever since.

    0 points
  • John PJohn P, almost 8 years ago

    ugh

    0 points