There are these nice and humble people who are ever willing to admit the possibility that they may not be infallible and can make be wrong sometimes - or so people say. If so, I am yet to come across one who says "I may be wrong but..". In the normal course, a person who seriously considers the possibility of his being wrong starts off diffidently saying things like, "Is it possible that.." or "Could it be this way?"
The most humble version of "I may be wrong ..." is the person who says that with the unsaid sub-text of "but I shall be very surprised if I am" and THAT is regardless of what he says after that.
There is also the bully's version of "I may be wrong..." where the sub-text is "but is there anyone here who dares to say so to my face?" (It sounds more emphatic in Hindi - "Kisi maike laal mein dum hai ...") Now that is a person who does not care two hoots about whether he is right or not but merely expects to be obeyed. That "I may be wrong .." here is a dare - it is not a statement of humility.
There is the "I may be wrong.." that expects the crowd around to say, "No, of course you are not Sir. How can you ever be wrong?" This is normally a boss who just loves his subordinates to be perpetually blinded by his own brilliance but does not feel brilliant unless they tell him so.
The ultimate is someone who says "I may be wrong..", expects it to be treated as the joke of the century and waits for his audience to have a hearty laugh. After all both he and they know that he cannot be wrong. Like, say, God saying, "I may be wrong.." when he is talking of how he created the world.
Hmm! I may be wrong in what I said above. (I know you are all laughing heartily at this statement)
The only thing worse than I may be wrong is "don't take me otherwise, but ... " :)
ReplyDeletePsst! You are letting out the secret of the next post in this series :)
DeleteI may be wrong but I kinda love the way you are weaving humor into common-place expressions ;)
ReplyDeleteYou are not, Ash! :) These common place expressions create a lot of gloom in the world because they seldom mean the same thing to everyone.
DeleteThe only time God was wrong, was probably when he made the guy mentioned :P
ReplyDeleteWorst thing to hear apart from, "I may be wrong" is "I'm always right!"
Crazy people I tell ya!
Sometimes I feel "People are crazy" :)
DeleteHow many more in your arsenal?
ReplyDeleteLots, Indu! But, maybe, I shall give this an interval and get back to it later if you are already getting bored :)
DeleteI may be wrong but don't you dare rub it in :). I like your take on phrases! The humor cutting down the bite!
ReplyDeleteAh! Some support at last.
DeleteI try to keep the tone light, Rachna, but I am glad that the bite is still there :)
I missed few posts from this series. This one is too good and I am not wrong about it :P
ReplyDeleteThanks Saru - not for missing a few posts but liking this one :)
DeleteWell, I'm not wrong that you write good humor :) Should catch up on the other posts in this series :)
ReplyDeleteYou know I will certainly agree on that :) You should catch up :)
DeleteI may be wrong, but you sure seem to be churning a lot of these wonderful posts nowadays :D
ReplyDeleteWhy nowadays? I thought that I did that always :P
DeleteI may be wrong, but you certainly are bang-on with your 'Phrases' series. (PS - This is the usage where the sub-text is "but is there anyone here who dares to say so to my face?" :D :D
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sakshi! Now THAT is vehement support for this series :)
DeleteI may be wrong,but,I am not wrong by coming here to this site
ReplyDeleteThat's one statement with which I can be sure to agree completely with! Thanks BK :)
DeleteI get to listen versions of this phrase of a daily basis. To me, it is just another way of subtly, bossing around.
ReplyDeleteSubtly or not so subtly telling the other person not to dispute. Yes, Akanksha!
DeleteIt's amazing how you say things can make such a lot of difference on the impression people create about you. The same text can be sub texted in so many different ways! Loved reading this and more importantly learnt something as well. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Arti! Wonderful to hear from you
Delete'You are one amazing writer!!' Well, I may be wrong.. Though I dont expect to be..
ReplyDeleteThat's a statement on which you are going to get no dispute from me DS :)
DeleteI may be wrong, Suresh, but that was a witty post!
ReplyDeleteOF COURSE you are NOT wrong, Uma :) Thanks.
DeleteI do use this phrase sometimes in the first sense!
ReplyDeleteAlmost all of us do
Deleteim never ever wrong when I decide to land up on your blog because I want to read something exceptional ... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks you for that! In this I will agree :)
DeleteI may be wrong but you tickled my funny bone in each of your "phrase"posts.Full of humour.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope you are not wrong :)
DeleteWell have you hears Suresh ji husbands quoting this,"I may be wrong....but..." and rest becomes a disputed affair when wives remember each word clearly from the past while husbands have lesser contact with the past wrongs.lolz
ReplyDeleteHahaha! THAT's a perennial issue :)
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