There are of course many things I dislike, and right on top among those is having ‘Forget it!’ thrown at me in the middle of a conversation. This can obviously mean a lot of interesting things:
I am too busy to explain this to you..
Ooops. I said that by mistake. It wasn’t meant for you.
You are not important enough for me to waste time repeating it.
You are too dumb to get this, so I won’t bother.
You didn’t pay attention and I am NOT going to say it again aka I am miffed big time.
I don’t care how this makes you feel, but what I say, I say only once.
There could be more, but this will suffice to convey how it makes you me feel, kind of like a worm with weak intellect being put in its place, which is the dirt below from where it somehow dared crawl out.
At least that is how it makes ME feel.
Any of the following can be the reason enough to elicit the ‘Forget it!’ response: Your ears not being in perfect (Who is, by the way?) condition and your getting a garbled message. Some interference (like Luci barking at the post-woman) causing words not to be heard clearly, making you lose the thread of the conversation. If it happens during chat sessions, the fact of the ever hungry Internet Gods swallowing part of the messages leaving you puzzled over unconnected bits, and hankering for what’s been lost. Not being wired to the same brain, you having a different perception of what’s just been read and hence replying out of context. Or lets just face it. It could actually be that you had a dumb-moment right then and could not follow what was being said.
Yet, why should one ‘Forget it’?!
When something has been said, and missed by the listener, wouldn’t the proper thing be to enlighten the eager, anxious, curious, interested (and many more such) soul waiting at the other side of the baatcheet (conversation) wanting to be filled in? Let’s look at it this way. Why would anyone take the time and effort to want you to repeat something for them? Why would anyone ask you to explain it once again? Why would they want to retrieve the missing/lost pieces of information? It can only be because they care, are interested enough in it. Isn’t that so? And the reward one gets for it is a disdainful, ‘Forget it!’. Go figure.
So my dear friends (and foes), please leave out, “Forget it!” from your conversations with me. If you have thought fit to say/type something, do also take time out to fill in the lost details in case I have missed out. In case it is one of the reasons above, how about being frank and up front about it, rather than using ‘Forget it!’ as its substitute? Of course if you think I am too dumb to converse with, you are welcome not to. Thank you. 😉
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Shail's Nest 
Very often, ‘Forget it’ is used at an opportune moment to wriggle out of a conversation that is not going the ‘Forget it’er’s way, especially when the subject was initiated by the ‘Forget it’er.
Bingo, to that!
It can also mean that a relationship is more important than arguing about a topic where you are not agreeing or finding a solution. It may be a form of truce….my opinion.
If so, ‘Let’s agree to disagree’ would be a better, more inclusive option, which does not shut the other one out, don’t you think?
I totally agree with Proactive Indian. It is usually an escape to turn the things around on the listener.
Yes, indeed.
Great post. I also agree with the above comments. It’s easy to just bail out by saying, “Forget it.” It lets that person off the hook, but is a cop out. I agree with your take on this scenario and applaud your handling of it!
Thank you, Ann. 🙂
And the sister uses it often in different forms and words during our phone conversations and I can’t tell you how red faced it leaves me at the end of the conversation, agar sunai nahi de raha toh please repeat karo, ye kya bat hua ‘accha chodo’. Almost always she uses it, the over emotional us end up shouting & fighting with at each other.
I can relate to how it leaves you red-faced!
I hate it when people use Forget it. Frankly it makes me feel mildly insulted. i Think most people use it to save face or when they have no more arguments left.
Ohh and I love how you see pics of birds and captions for the posts everyday !
Aww…. I am happy you noticed! 🙂
I agree!
I use it when I have to repeat something .. as I feel tired and exhausted when I have to repeat something..
Okay 🙂
I use it as a hint to let my husband know when I am at the very edge of exploding. 😀
Haha. So that’s explosion-indicator in your case 😛
I fully agree with you. 🙂 100%.
Hi-5 on that!
When even after being clear , people don’t understand I say ” leave it , not that important ” if it is really not important but– > forget it – may be I never used – atleast can’t recollect using it but ya I use only to tease people who r very close to me and who can bear my mood swings- never with others 🙂
I guess that is not so bad 🙂
Oh I completely agree. This pisses me off like crazy and for me it means only one thing that I can’t understand what the other person is saying!
That implication is so annoying!
Totally agree why begin to say something if you dont want to finish saying It at all 🙂
Why, indeed! 🙂
And they said Fill it, shut it and forget it
but how can one forget it if nothing has been filled in it
what you can never end, never be eager to commit
has been so far my unwritten writ
Am I speaking the truth? I don’t know,I keep forgetting it. 🙂
Hell it is annoying when someone says ‘forget it’ in the middle of something.
But even if you have forgotten it, it is after you put it so well in your four-liner! 🙂
I use “forget it” when I am blabbering away and my intended listener is busy checking his/her text/WhatsApp messages, emails, etc on the phone and also when they look at my face but their eyes tell me that their minds are travelling in some distant lands 😛
I guess in that case it is justified 😉
I know, its just so frustrating
I have lots of such moments too, when I lose the thread of the conversation. And it is very annoying when people decide to move on to the next topic, rather than fill one in.
Yes, indeed. And what bugs me is when it happens the other way round, you always fill in without a second thought.
Haha….good one shail. Esp.rings true for me as I am really bad at talking on the phone. My mind wanders off and then I m like what? What? I never do that intentionally, and really I am interested in hearing what I missed 😀
Oh, I am bad at phone conversations too. Hi 5 on that!
I hear ya! I hate it when people say forget it to me too! Like, really, how rude is that?!?
Rude, it is. I am glad to hear more people feel the same way i do.
Very apt, these musings. It has to be the most irritating of things to be told to forget it! What? :-o!!
Convenient for them too.
Except that one is not longer available to play that game. Forget it? You betcha! Don’t come back for another game though. Mesa not playing 😛
Yeah, no more playing with those who conveniently wriggle out with a ‘forget it’! 😛
I so agree with you! “Forget it” is very hurtful and I can so relate to what you say – every word of it 🙂 Superb post
Thank you Sundari, and welcome to Shail’s Nest 🙂
I hate it too. It seems very dismissive to me. 🙂
You said it! 🙂
I am not attentive many times especailly with my teen.It is the phrase used by my teen the most number of times.This phrase ,I feel is a sign of these times.Very rude one ,I agree.
Oh believe me it is no indication of the times. My peers use it much more than any teenager. 🙂
Agree with what you say.. but it could also mean the conversation isn’t going anywhere..
or sometimes, the person may change his/her mind abt the conversation…
online conversation etiquette is quite hard no?! 😀
If the conversation isn’t going anywhere, especially when it is so, this is not the way to end it, is my point. 🙂
Things people say Forget it about, are the ones that I end up remembering
Exactly.
You say it perfectly, every time. 🙂 And I don’t forget it. 😀
Lol, Debo 🙂
Yes M’am, point noted 😀
😀
I think the real meaning of “Forget it!” is most likely, “I’m not getting what I want, so now I’ve changed my mind, because I’m a big baby!” 🙂
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I am with you on that! 🙂