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A man's got to know his limitations. Do you?

bhkad

bhkad

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A man's got to know his limitations. Do you?

In the film, Magnum Force, Inspector (Dirty) Harry Callahan [Clint Eastwood] uttered the line, "A man's got to know his limitations."

To know your limitations means you have achieved failure in some area or another.

Do you know your limits?

:)
 
I take on too many projects, stretch myself too thin, and then torment myself endlessly for my failures and my lack of progress. I feel guilt about mistakes that could not have been avoided or that were never my responsibility in the first place, sometimes years after I should have let them go.

So, you could go either way. You could say that I refuse to acknowledge my limitations and I suffer for it, or you could say that my life is very little but the endless litany of my failures.
 
Korimyr the Rat said:
I take on too many projects, stretch myself too thin, and then torment myself endlessly for my failures and my lack of progress. I feel guilt about mistakes that could not have been avoided or that were never my responsibility in the first place, sometimes years after I should have let them go.

So, you could go either way. You could say that I refuse to acknowledge my limitations and I suffer for it, or you could say that my life is very little but the endless litany of my failures.
Click to expand...

That is the unstated conundrum that those who've never reached beyond their limitations can't know.

:)
 
My limitations are mostly due to my inability to STFU when it would be appropriate to do so. I make jokes/comments at the worst possible time all too often.

For example:

I went on a job interview after I closed down my construction company for a firm that deals in science equipment. I went on an interview and one of the questions that came up was literally:

"I see here that your prior work experience deals with running a constuction company. There aren't very many women in construction, but we have many women employed with us. How would you react to working with a woman?"

I thought the guy was trying to make a joke by playing on the stereotype of the crude and vulgar cat-calling construction working meathead.

Well, I should have mentioned that I had worked with women many times before ON a constuction site, but instead, my sacrastic streak got in the way and I said:

"I would probably rape them all almost immediately... unless she were really ugly or fat or something."

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. :doh
 
Tucker Case said:
My limitations are mostly due to my inability to STFU when it would be appropriate to do so. I make jokes/comments at the worst possible time all too often.

For example:

I went on a job interview after I closed down my construction company for a firm that deals in science equipment. I went on an interview and one of the questions that came up was literally:

"I see here that your prior work experience deals with running a constuction company. There aren't very many women in construction, but we have many women employed with us. How would you react to working with a woman?"

I thought the guy was trying to make a joke by playing on the stereotype of the crude and vulgar cat-calling construction working meathead.

Well, I should have mentioned that I had worked with women many times before ON a constuction site, but instead, my sacrastic streak got in the way and I said:

"I would probably rape them all almost immediately... unless she were really ugly or fat or something."

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. :doh
Click to expand...

Pretty funny but also kinda unfortunate that they did not understand you were kidding.

:):doh
 
I never know when to stop drinking.

At least, that's what people say, I don't remember drinking too much!
 
When I meet people my age if they don't immediately seem cool and worthwhile to met I act like a huge dick. Combined with Bub's problem I've had some pretty bad times.
 
Using the term "cool" there made me sound like a high school girl. I don't mean like, "Fonz" cool, what I really meant was "seems like I'd like them."

I don't give people a chance before I judge them.
 
Tucker Case said:
My limitations are mostly due to my inability to STFU when it would be appropriate to do so. I make jokes/comments at the worst possible time all too often.

For example:

I went on a job interview after I closed down my construction company for a firm that deals in science equipment. I went on an interview and one of the questions that came up was literally:

"I see here that your prior work experience deals with running a constuction company. There aren't very many women in construction, but we have many women employed with us. How would you react to working with a woman?"

I thought the guy was trying to make a joke by playing on the stereotype of the crude and vulgar cat-calling construction working meathead.

Well, I should have mentioned that I had worked with women many times before ON a constuction site, but instead, my sacrastic streak got in the way and I said:

"I would probably rape them all almost immediately... unless she were really ugly or fat or something."

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. :doh
Click to expand...


Cheer up grasshopper,with age comes the ability to keep ones foot out of mouth. ;)
 
Tucker Case said:
My limitations are mostly due to my inability to STFU when it would be appropriate to do so. I make jokes/comments at the worst possible time all too often.

For example:

I went on a job interview after I closed down my construction company for a firm that deals in science equipment. I went on an interview and one of the questions that came up was literally:

"I see here that your prior work experience deals with running a constuction company. There aren't very many women in construction, but we have many women employed with us. How would you react to working with a woman?"

I thought the guy was trying to make a joke by playing on the stereotype of the crude and vulgar cat-calling construction working meathead.

Well, I should have mentioned that I had worked with women many times before ON a constuction site, but instead, my sacrastic streak got in the way and I said:

"I would probably rape them all almost immediately... unless she were really ugly or fat or something."

Needless to say, I didn't get the job. :doh
Click to expand...

The worst thing I ever said at work was when I was a hospital orderly. I was taking a young man on a gurney down to the operating room to have a crushed finger amputated. He held up his bandaged hand and asked me if he would have a similar dressing when he came out of the operating room.

Without thinking I said, "no, it'll be shorter."
 
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Do any other chicks on the forum find this thread title marginalizing?


(Cue for all the men on the forum to trip over themselves explaining that male is the default gender, and that "man" actually means women too, even though when someone at a party asks whether they're married, they wouldn't dream of saying, "Yeah, my wife's the man in the green dress, over there by the buffet scarfing down cocktail weenies").
 
I can't dunk. :(


1069 said:
Do any other chicks on the forum find this thread title marginalizing?


(Cue for all the men on the forum to trip over themselves explaining that male is the default gender, and that "man" actually means women too, even though when someone at a party asks whether they're married, they wouldn't dream of saying, "Yeah, my wife's the man in the green dress, over there by the buffet scarfing down cocktail weenies").
Click to expand...

In the OP he explains that it's a quote from a movie.
 
RightinNYC said:
I can't dunk. :(




In the OP he explains that it's a quote from a movie.
Click to expand...

Oh, since Clint Eastwood said it, it must be okay.
Is that the theory?
Because we all know what an enlightened, progressive feminist Clint Eastwood is.
 
I could go on forever, I guess I'll just riff for a couple paragraphs and then stop.

I am oppressively deliberate. I lack any sense of spontaneity whatsoever. It is a strength and a weakness. Many people spend their lives trying to remember to look before they leap. I spend my life trying to trick myself into leaping without looking just once. Because of this, I am stable, I am good with money, I am relatively successful for my age, I've never been in any serious trouble. I also fear intimacy(physical and emotional), I fear change, I fear confrontation of any type, I fear vulnerability. I cannot make a split decision. Sometimes I can hardly function in the outer world due to my inability to make a decision quickly.

On the same page, I am analytical to the point of absurdity. I kill the magic of every song I love, every movie I love, every person I love by analyzing them until they are a spreadsheet. On the other hand, I like to think I am strongly impartial and reasonable. I'm probably a secret robot made by The Government, in truth. Thanks, Government.

I'm bitter by nature. This is a side effect of my analytical nature, I think. I assume the worst of others, I'm unreasonably distrustful. I see weakness and ignorance in passion, despite my best efforts.

I'm lazy, to be quite honest. Not as lazy as some, but I will regularly sit around, bored, upset about being bored, trying to convince myself to do something productive. Instead of acting on that thought, I just continue to sit around bored, feeling sorry for myself.

I'll stop here, I guess.

P.S.: I don't actually hate myself, I think I do have many strong qualities as well.
 
SWM said:
I could go on forever, I guess I'll just riff for a couple paragraphs and then stop.

I am oppressively deliberate. I lack any sense of spontaneity whatsoever. It is a strength and a weakness. Many people spend their lives trying to remember to look before they leap. I spend my life trying to trick myself into leaping without looking just once. Because of this, I am stable, I am good with money, I am relatively successful for my age, I've never been in any serious trouble. I also fear intimacy(physical and emotional), I fear change, I fear confrontation of any type, I fear vulnerability. I cannot make a split decision. Sometimes I can hardly function in the outer world due to my inability to make a decision quickly.

On the same page, I am analytical to the point of absurdity. I kill the magic of every song I love, every movie I love, every person I love by analyzing them until they are a spreadsheet. On the other hand, I like to think I am strongly impartial and reasonable. I'm probably a secret robot made by The Government, in truth. Thanks, Government.

I'm bitter by nature. This is a side effect of my analytical nature, I think. I assume the worst of others, I'm unreasonably distrustful. I see weakness and ignorance in passion, despite my best efforts.

I'm lazy, to be quite honest. Not as lazy as some, but I will regularly sit around, bored, upset about being bored, trying to convince myself to do something productive. Instead of acting on that thought, I just continue to sit around bored, feeling sorry for myself.

I'll stop here, I guess.

P.S.: I don't actually hate myself, I think I do have many strong qualities as well.
Click to expand...



Wow. You're, like, my e-soulmate. :shock:
Everything you said applies to me, too.
The worst part is, I didn't used to be this way.
I used to be brave and reckless and free.
And so, like a blind person who was once sighted, it's worse.
I know what I'm missing.
 
1069 said:
Wow. You're, like, my e-soulmate. :shock:
Everything you said applies to me, too.
The worst part is, I didn't used to be this way.
I used to be brave and reckless and free.
And so, like a blind person who was once sighted, it's worse.
I know what I'm missing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. :)

I vaguely recall not being like this when I was a child. It's pretty much just who I am, though; the concept of recklessness is not one I really grasp. And, I'm not sure I would like to be reckless as it were, just a little less narrow. I enjoy stability in a lot of ways.
 
1069 said:
Oh, since Clint Eastwood said it, it must be okay.
Is that the theory?
Because we all know what an enlightened, progressive feminist Clint Eastwood is.
Click to expand...

No, the theory is that in Magnum Force, the script that Clint Eastwood had to read contained the line "A man's got to know his limitations." I'm sorry that the writers didn't include "or woman." For that matter, I'm sorry that any quote anywhere references gender in any way shape or form, as it is always meant to be discriminatory and sexist when someone uses words like "man," "woman," "he," or "her." I hope that resolves any issues you have with the thread title.
 
RightinNYC said:
No, the theory is that in Magnum Force, the script that Clint Eastwood had to read contained the line "A man's got to know his limitations." I'm sorry that the writers didn't include "or woman." For that matter, I'm sorry that any quote anywhere references gender in any way shape or form, as it is always meant to be discriminatory and sexist when someone uses words like "man," "woman," "he," or "her." I hope that resolves any issues you have with the thread title.
Click to expand...

All the good sayings, the meaningful ones, reference men.
Think about it.
The ones that reference women automatically have a very different resonance.
"A woman's got to..."
When it starts out that way, you automatically know it's going to be something about sex, or gender roles, or something light-hearted, silly or funny.
Not something universal, something philosophical, about the human condition or the human experience. It's going to be something shallow, petty, and trivial.

I was joking earlier, by the way (kind of), but think about it: how many men would've responded to this thread if the title had been "A woman's got to know her limitations. Do you?"

How many men would even be interested in something like that?

It's not just about this thread; it's about the broader scope of things.
"Women's interests" are assumed to be narrow and trivial, and therefore unimportant if not entirely irrelevant. Men's interests are assumed to be broad and universal, and therefore important and relevant.

It's not worth going to war over, but it is worth noting in passing.
It's worth acknowledging.
 
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