I thought so

I was having a conversation with someone just now, and they just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I immediately ended the conversation, because I no longer wanted to talk to them.

It was a simple 3 word sentence.

"I thought so."

When talking to someone, you'll often hear it. Someone will ask you a question, and you'll reply. If the questioning person says "I thought so", it means they already knew the answer to your question.

So what's the purpose of saying "I thought so"? I'll tell you exactly what it is. That sentence means "I knew what the answer is, I just want to validate what I thought, because validation makes my ego feel better. And I love improving my ego!"

Think about it-- no really, think about it. Does the sentence "I thought so" improve anything in a conversation? Does it add any information? Does it add any context? No, it doesn't do anything. All it does is come off as "woohoo I guess what your response was going to be, I'm awesome!". If you really are after validation, couldn't you have just kept the sentence "I thought so" to yourself, and congratulate yourself in private? No, you congratulate yourself in public, because what's the point of congratulating yourself if there's nobody to see it?

Q: "What's wrong?"
A: "I'm angry"
Q: "Is it because of.... (educated guess goes here)?"
A: "Yeah"
Q: "I thought so"

See, what was the point of saying "I thought so" at the end?

Here is how I would handle it if someone said that to me:

Q: "What's wrong?"
A: "I'm feeling sad"
Q: "Is it because of.... (educated guess goes here)?"
A: "Yeah"
Q: "I thought so"
A: "Congratulations, want a god damn cookie?"

I have two friends (who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are) who say "I thought so" all the time. Actually, one of them says "I knew it" a lot. "I knew it" is the same thing as "I thought so", it just requires less brainpower to expend.

I hate it when people gloat. I hate it when people gloat in front of me. I even hate it more when people gloat at my expense. It's part of my personality: I don't take criticism well, and I don't like people making me feel lower, or making themselves feel higher.

And if you just said "I knew it" after reading that paragraph, then we're going to have issues.

So what do you say instead of saying I knew it, or I thought so?

You say "I see".

That's all, two words. Two words that mean "ok I learned something". It's the same thing as "oh ok". It means that you're not stroking your ego in front of them, it means you're listening to them.

Got it, world?

ic.