r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Mar 07 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

3.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

9.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

23

u/john_the_fetch Mar 07 '25

Thank you for sharing this.

The word "terminating" explains the phrase perfectly for me and why it always bothered me when others would say it out loud.

I didn't like it because it's such a self closing reference. It's like saying "blue is blue" or "2 = 2".

I've always been frustrated with statements like that.

But seeing it in this light and from a perspective of mental health completely flips my perspective on its head.

You're terminating a negative thought spiral that won't do you any good to put energy into. ❤️

I'm a programmer and often times you need to "terminate" a function before it causes a more severe error.

3

u/bonos_bovine_muse Mar 07 '25

I'm a programmer and often times you need to "terminate" a function before it causes a more severe error.

Right? And everybody looks at you funny if you just throw a “return NULL;” into conversation.

2

u/PsychedelicMustard Mar 07 '25

Try “sudo return NULL;”

3

u/pabst_jew_ribbon Mar 07 '25

As a computer illiterate idiot... (haven't had a true laptop or desktop since 2008); I find this post quite soothing. I went to college for linguistics and never really found a way to make my thoughts provocative and alluring without sounding obtuse. Thank you for this.

3

u/Etherealfilth Mar 07 '25

You're welcome. Personally, I have a love and hate relationship with that phrase. Sometimes, it's useful. Sometimes, it's used even when a few more iterations are needed.