If Something ‘Goes Without Saying’ Why Do People Still Say It? – ‘The Why’

Welcome to the newest edition of The Why.

Everywhere you look the media is pushing you telling you who to follow, what to watch and when to watch it.   You’re even sometimes told how to do it all.  Truth is, here at American Live Wire we do a bit of that too.  The big difference is we also tell you why.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.

“If something ‘goes without saying’ why do people still say it?” you ask? Good question. There are several reasons why people use this phrase. Sometimes it is one of those phrases used by someone who doesn’t really know what to say but it buys them a moment or two to think. One online commentator considers it a filler phrase that people sometimes use to flesh out a speech they feel is too short.

If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it? / Image: BuperStickerz

If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it? Sometimes people use the phrase as a way of promoting or hyping someone or something.  Advertisers employ this type of phrase on a regular basis in fact.

This might be why some online experts have labeled this phrase a “constipated clause.” In fact, the folks at Sales HQ call this one of the “11 stupid writing mistakes”. They say if it “’goes without saying’ then don’t say it. If it doesn’t, in fact, go without saying, then don’t say it does.”

If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it? “Emily” on YahooAnswers provided some additional insight. She stated: “My mom says it all the time. It’s something that you say when you believe that what you will say next is generally accepted or understood.”

Additionally, it’s a C.Y.A. thing in that when a person uses the phrase they are now informing the 1 percent of his/her audience that actually does not/may not know. (It certainly has grown to accumulate some built-in confusion as there is even a translation site that explain what a native user of the language means when he/she uses it.)

If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it? / Image: DailyCaller

This phrase (which refers to something that should be obvious) has also grown to become “one of the 11 overused phrases dumb people say” according to some online experts. But there is perhaps one more entertaining response to our question: If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it?

In the words of someone known only as “CountSpatula” if something “goes without saying” people still say it “probably (for) the same reason that there are Braille menus posted on drive-thru windows.”

If something “goes without saying” why do people still say it? Now you know.

You ask the questions.  We provide the answers.