There's a pattern in my behavior that I've noticed recently, which is that I now thank inanimate objects when they work for me. For instance, the autocorrect on the spellcheck stops me from spelling 'experience' with an 'a': "Thank you." My anti-virus pops up, telling me it found a virus and destroyed it: "Oh, cheers!" The microwave dings: "Ah, thank you very much." Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this!
I know plenty of people who apologize to shelves, chairs, etc. when they bump into them. You are not alone.
Politesse. Such a strange thing. It waxes and wanes of the years. In times gone by we were sensitive that there was a fad of creating little skirts for table and piano legs in order to avoid the rude suggestion that a shapely carving might invoke.
i do it all the time! fyi, some [or all] of the tribal peoples of north america believe that spirits of the departed are often 'waiting' in rocks, trees, and assorted other 'inanimate' objects, to be reassigned, or whatever... so they 'talk to the trees' too... if you haven't heard that lovely song from 'paint your wagon' go find it with a bit of googling and give a listen...
I think I only do that when I expect the item in question to not work. Like on a cold morning, if my car starts up on the first try. THANK YOU! Also, somewhat related, I still talk to my stuffed animals.
I dont hold actual conversations, but when I have to give a speech or something, I rehearse with them, set them all up in chairs and everything. And as for the OP, Xeno, yeah. I say thank you to everyone and everything. It's kind of weird to hear someone else say it, but I think the majority of people do it themselves. I talk to things all the time, especially electronics, most specifically computers. They give me hell most of the time, so when something works? "Ohmigosh! I love you, man!" And downloading? Sometimes I cheer it on. "Come on, love! You're so sweet, wont you download a little faster for me? They're ya go!" *It slows down* "Hey, now! Dont be so difficult!" ...Dont judge me.
Merc, I do that all the time. =] It's quite comical, really. I'll even text it to people. "Sheila's being incredibly slow today." At this point, everyone knows that Sheila is my laptop.
Haha, so I'm not the only one. I think it's just a natural instinct for humans to start interacting with something like it's sentenint when we need it to do something for us. It's sort of like a way of strangely assuring yourself that the inanimate object will work for you.
The only time I talk to an inanimate object is when it malfunctions—what follows is not exactly polite.
No, there is no such thing as too polite. My mom gave me a saying that I use today. When someone is mean or evil too you. "Kill them with kindness." They will have now way to react to it. What can one say when you say thank you. Or something like. I am glad to see that you show your nice, kindness when you are around me. Bad example, but I hope that you see what I mean.
I have known people with a compulsive need to apologize. That seems to be a reflexive response from people who have leaqrned that they will be blamed anyway, and apologiizing quickly can sometimes deflect undeserved punishment. It often comes about as a result of abuse. They will sometimes even develop the habit of apologizing to inanimate objects. However, I haven't seen that extend to thanking inanimate objects.
My friend has that problem. She says sorry to everything, even saying 'so what did you do last night - sorry-" and if you look puzzled and ask why she can't say! Or if her bag touches your arm, or the door closes behind her, or.... She says "oh I apologise too much" but never realises she's done it until after. Now we're used to it, we just say "'it's fine" whatever she is apologising for..it's an automatic reflex I'm not 'too polite' to inanimate things, I'm normally rude - hurry UP you bloody pile of scrap metal - to my computer
I do it, but sometimes I get confused when they don't talk back. If I'm really sleepy, and bump into a chair, I get quite offended if it doesn't say 'It's alright' after I've apologised.
Sophie, I had one such friend who I would tell "Don't apologize!" Her immediate reaction, of course, was to respond, "Oh, sorry." That of course would lead to several seconds of back and forth, finally dissolving intro laughter. She didn;t really lose the habit, but did become more aware of how often she did it, and got a bit better about it.
^Tried that. She does the same thing. No progress. After a while it gets SO irritating ..after repeated apologies about the fact the weather is bad, or that I'm feeling ill, or that I have a test...I just have to answer blandly each time 'it's OK'. No one can control the weather, yet she still seems to feel responsible!!
I just laugh it off, and never respond too much..ha if you acted annoyed by it she would apologise more!
Ahh, apologising to inanimate objects - I do that all the time xD Like, I was playing on Brain Training for DS a while ago and it told me me to tell it told me to do some sums - when I got one wrong and it marked itself with a cross, I was like 'Oh, sorry. Uhmmm ... '. My Dad just turned and looked at me like: 'what are you apologising to a computer for?'. Damn the ingrained need to apologise! Oh, and that whole thing about people apologising after you've told them not to? That just irks me to no end.
