Is “ Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” correct?

[Emily's Cat]

Then yet again I will ask you to confirm the process by which you consciously control your biochemistry. I've asked 3 people this now and so far nobody has attempted an answer.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is very useful for those who don't manage to learn Emotional Self-Regulation during their natural development.

 

[Emily's Cat]

I am not talking about a brief exchange of words, I am talking about when it has developed into bullying. It is too easy to dismiss a victim of bullying with "sticks and stones". The other phrase I hated was "toughen up".

Most people would prefer an exchange of words, in the street, pub or at a football match. If it is like for like, so be it.

You have an unusual take on this. "sticks and stones" isn't a bully's excuse, it's a victim's defense. Specifically, it a means of protecting one's mental well-being when being verbally abused by someone.

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I find myself thinking that those in this thread who keep dismissing the aphorism and insisting that words are just as bad... have probably never actually been physically assaulted or abused.

As someone who has experienced both, I am entirely convinced that the physical is worse than the verbal. They're not even comparable in terms of magnitude. The verbal can hurt my feelings, but the physical can hurt my feelings, my mind, and my body.

 

[Emily's Cat]

Yep this. I guess it is true that "words will never hurt me." is not literally true, who cares. There does seem to be a common rhetorical trope these days in which someone does not understand or ignores metaphor and idiomatic meaning in favor of literal meaning and thinks they've said something useful.

It frequently comes across as semantic rationalizations to defend "might makes right".