Like fashion, some phrases come along and — like capris pants or tribal tattoos — it suddenly seems like everyone is making use of them. One recent occurrence is “make no mistake” which, near as I can understand it, is a speaker’s attempt at emphasizing a point. However, whenever I’ve heard it, it’s come off condescendingly (and maybe that’s part of the idea, for all I know).
I knew that I couldn't be alone is my distaste for the phrase, but it was only recently that I came across some prose expressing as much. Writing for Slate Magazine, Timothy Noah is no fan of “make no mistake” (or, as he half-jokingly calls it, MNM) either:
[… ] “Read my lips” is funny—unless, of course, it’s spoken to a deaf person—and swagger always comes across better when it's leavened with humor. “Make no mistake,” on the other hand, are the words not merely of a bully, but of a bully who lacks panache. It practically begs for a defiant response. Listen, buddy, I’ll make a mistake whenever I goddamn well feel like it.
I think Noah was able to capture my feelings on this one. At first, when trying to figure out my distaste for the phrase, I thought that maybe it was because the speaker was being redundant (after all, who intentionally makes mistakes?). Thinking further, and looking at it from the perspective that Noah offers, I think he’s right — by chiding the listener not to make mistakes, the speaker is implying that the listener is prone to making them. Well, that’s not very hospitable, now is it?
I suppose that I can only count down this phrase’s fifteen minutes. With any luck, it’s merely a passing fad of the pretentiarati.
*bites tongue and points at “pretentiarati”*
What, you don’t like nounified adjectives? ;)
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Lately I hear this stupid threat from some otherwise smart people, which diminishes my respect as any man’s death diminishews me. Apology to poet Donne, but not to “W”.
Lately I hear this stupid threat”make no mistake” from some otherwise smart people, which diminishes my respect as “any man’s death diminishes me”. Apology to poet Donne, but not to “W”.