Avoid These Words (And Not Just at Work)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it whenever 'why don't you just...' comes up as an example of arrogant, dismissive advice.
What it is
Adam Savage answers viewer questions on dealing with condescending colleagues, focusing on dismissive phrases such as 'why don't you just' and 'I would have'. He explains why such language undermines the person receiving it.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2024 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec bityard · 2024-09 · on “Xkcd 1425 (Tasks) turns ten years old today”
Adam Savage has a most excellent rant about the outrageous arrogance of the phrase, "Why don't you just..." I highly recommend it: [this video] My best example of this is my father-in-law. He's an absolutely wonderful man, generous to a fault and all of that. Fancies himself a handyman. But I had to stop asking for his help with around-the-house projects out of sheer anger and frustration because every SINGLE time I made a decision about how to proceed with the job or pick which tool to use to cut something, he would stop and and ask, "Well, why don't you just do X instead?" It didn't seem to matter if I explained my reasoning, or if doing X meant redoing a hour of work just to get back to where
Recommends RadiozRadioz · 2024-08 · on “Why Don't You Just”
Possibly the article talked about in this relevant video from Adam Savage: [this video] I had noticed this too subconsciously, but could never put into words why it felt bad to receive (otherwise totally valid) suggestions in this form. It seems a common phrase in technical circles.
Recommends bradjohnson · 2024-11 · on “Only 5.3% of US welders are women. After years as a professor, I became one”
I really believe that you are approaching this in good faith, so I will do the same. I don't have time to really dig into this deeply with you so these brief justifications of my stance will have to suffice. I don't understand some of your tangents, and you will have to forgive me for not addressing the reddit or sports stuff. > Re: tech bro The tech bro thing comes across most apparently in the pro-VC slant of this site (inextricable, I know). There is a high proportion of believers in a fantasy meritocracy where current wealth concentration is justifiable due to the sheer genius of "founders". This is very much a tech-bro way of thinking. The way HN regularly reduces socio-political proble