The Term
"Not Bad"
Have you ever noticed when you ask someone how they are doing the most common reply is “Not Bad” or “Not too Bad”?
Lets examine the sematics and mind frame that would envoke such a response.
It seems as though when someone replies with “Not Bad” that they have not answered the question!
As far as I am conceren they told me how they are Not doing, as oppossed to my specific question as to how they Are doing.
I did not ask them “ How are you not doing today?” or “How is your day not going?”
So why are they answering me as if I did ask them that?
Are their minds backwards?
They are telling me the opposite of what I want to know.
Are they even aware they are responding to me with the opposite of what I asked them in the first place?
Why do we speak or respond in reversals?
Futher more by saying “Im not Bad today”, that means they can be anything other than not feeling bad,
which leaves a whole universe of speculation as to what they are feeling other than not bad.
To be realistic there are a lot of other things that you can feel like other than not feeling bad.
So I am now supposed to assume or guess how they are feeling due to the inconclusiveness and/or unspecified state of feeling they are experiencing.
Why are they so unspecific, is that because they don’t know how they are feeling?
So now they are responding in reversal and being extremely un-specific as to what they are feeling.
Further more I’m curious about the use of the word “Bad”.
Why is the word “Bad” a part of their response?
Is bad the way they normaly feel, and today they are not bad?
Why does it seem as though being bad is a base, default or standard state of being by which other feelings are measured or gauged by?
By saying “Not Bad”, you are essentially saying, “ I am ususally feeling bad although not as bad as usual specifically at this moment or day”.
Thus when someone tells you they are not feeling bad, they are essentially telling you that they typically feel bad/not happy,
although not as bad or unhappy as usual, specifically at that moment or day when you asked them how they are doing.
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