Ordinary Mortals
[Note: the following was posted by me, Jay Wiseman, on my Facebook timeline on the date indicated.]
Kink/poly Question Of The Week — 02/04/21
What’s Your “Phrase to Watch Out For”?
For many years now, I’ve been of the opinion that in pretty much every area of life one or more phrases exist which are, in essence, variants of “Hold my beer and watch this!” In other words, “phrases to watch out for.”
When I was in EMS, a call for an “unknown problem” was such a phrase. In law, it’s often “I’ve got a quick question for you.” An experienced pilot friend of mine informs me that the phrase “Of course we’ve got enough fuel to get there” is known to raise eyebrows. A phrase that a friend of mine who is involved in wilderness search and rescue tells is often uttered 12 hours before her being activated is, “I know this shortcut.”
My general purpose phrase (and I even have t-shirts with this phrase on it; it is, in fact, the Official Jay Wiseman Motto) is, “It’ll be fine.”
One of the phrases I’ve learned to watch out for around discussions of exceptionally risky BDSM practices is what I call the “ordinary mortals” assertion. It goes like this:
Yes, those “ordinary mortals” need to follow those safety rules but I, because of my Special Domly Superpowers (TM), don’t need to follow the safety rules that those “ordinary mortals” need to follow because I — Uber Deity Domus Maximus that I am — REALLY know what I’m doing.
BTW, asserting something along the lines of “Oh, I’m Super Special so those rules don’t apply to ME” is a classic behavioral “tell” of a narcissist or psychopath.
I’ve encountered this “ordinary mortals” assertion quite a bit in discussions about gun play, but it also shows up in discussions about breath play and other high-risk activities.
Ah, yes, the “ordinary mortals” assertion. Another one of those “phrases to watch out for.”
“What are some “phrases to watch out for” that you have heard?
I’m particularly interested in seeing relevant kink and/or poly phrases but I’m open to seeing phrases from other areas of life as well.
Best regards to all,
Jay
PS: I hereby officially claim invention of the term “Domus Maximus.”
Ye Olde Footnotes:
- I have a civility policy on my timeline. That means that discussion, debate, and even argument are welcome here, but Thou Shalt Keep It Civil. People who make replies that I deem uncivil will be so notified and given “a while” (usually no more than 24 hours) to fix said replies. Those that are not adequately fixed will be deleted. People who repeatedly make uncivil replies will be blocked. Test me _not_ on this.
- Feel free to share this post provided that you identify the original poster (me).
- I make these posts because I want to learn what people think. For this reason, while I may make the occasional (and usually brief) reply, I tend to _not_ debate what people have posted in response to any significant degree but rather to make my post and “jump back quick” to watch and learn from what others have to say.
- Got a suggestion for the kink/poly question of the week? Please send it over, preferably by private message.
- Please keep the discussion “more or less” PG-13. We don’t want to draw the wrath of the Facebook Ghods, now do we?