"Congrats, Heather! That's incredible!" I typed in response to an email announcing a co-worker’s first place win in a marathon. Many people were ‘replying all’ to the email thread, so I did the same. Although the moment I pressed 'enter,' and sent that email to the entire company, I felt hot and sweaty. Shaking, I looked over my response again:
"Congrats, Heather! That's incredible!"
Doesn’t incredible technically mean not credible? I thought to myself in a panic. I just told a co-worker, in front of the entire company, that she’s a liar.
I was tempted to follow up with another email saying, "I meant to say, ‘so amazing that it's almost incredible.’” However, I quickly realized that calling her achievement "almost incredible" would be even more confusing than my first statement.
I started to calm down and realized that if it did cross anyone’s mind that my statement could mean that I was calling Heather a liar, they would surely know my intention. Everyone knows the colloquial usage of incredible.
Yet I still wished that I had chosen a different word - one that no one could poke holes in. Even though everyone at the very least understood my intention, I was still afraid of being judged by those who questioned my intelligence because I choose such a sloppy word.
In the timespan that I thought this out thoroughly, at least 10 other co-workers responded, also congratulating Heather. One other person responded with the word “incredible.”
Well, at least two of us think she’s a liar.
"Congrats, Heather! That's incredible!"
Doesn’t incredible technically mean not credible? I thought to myself in a panic. I just told a co-worker, in front of the entire company, that she’s a liar.
I was tempted to follow up with another email saying, "I meant to say, ‘so amazing that it's almost incredible.’” However, I quickly realized that calling her achievement "almost incredible" would be even more confusing than my first statement.
I started to calm down and realized that if it did cross anyone’s mind that my statement could mean that I was calling Heather a liar, they would surely know my intention. Everyone knows the colloquial usage of incredible.
Yet I still wished that I had chosen a different word - one that no one could poke holes in. Even though everyone at the very least understood my intention, I was still afraid of being judged by those who questioned my intelligence because I choose such a sloppy word.
In the timespan that I thought this out thoroughly, at least 10 other co-workers responded, also congratulating Heather. One other person responded with the word “incredible.”
Well, at least two of us think she’s a liar.
