what expressions have you interpreted differently as you've aged and/or matured?

[.iota.]

when i was in my teens and early twenties, i remember being confused and somewhat dismayed, if not slightly offended, by the expression "wherever you go, there you are." it seemed so self-evident to me at the time. of course, if a person went to a different place, they were there, rather than where they had been.

however, in my late twenties and early thirties, i came to understand the expression to mean that, whatever new experiences that a person may encounter, or wherever they may travel, they were only able to bring with them the skills which they had already learned.

now, after decades of witnessing family and friends struggle with the various changes that they had intentionally sought in their lives, i understand the expression to mean that if a person has unresolved issues, no matter what they do or where they travel, those issues will remain.

have you experienced a similar evolution in your understanding of any common expressions?

 

[Lifeguard Hermit]

"I wouldn't be caught in that thing dead" - t. Submersible

 

[Balalaika Z Bree]

A delightful puzzler.

"2 + 2" comes to mind, at first it was just something to learn, as part of a list or table of adding 2 to numbers, in the equation "2 + 2 = 4".

Then I read 1984, which includes it in a key question and in a great act of courage when the protagonist writes "“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” " which gave it both emotional weight and philosophical and political meaning.

Later I explored more maths and learned about order of operators, BIRDMAS/BIDMAS/BODMAS/PEDMAS etc. So it became far more logical, how two people can be given the same simple calculation and get different answers by not following the exact right order. Similarly I learned about negative and complex numbers so the meaning of a sum or indeed "2" could be changed and expanded. A little programming brought dozens of different meanings to what "2 + 2" might mean, depending on the context, so I saw a little of how machines might read the characters or the pixels in an image showing "2 + 2".

Now I can see the value of a frank and open-hearted discussion, a much more abstract and loving expansion of all simple truths like "2+2=4", and how the simple clear logic of mathematics can be used to great effect against insanity and evil like gender nonsense.

How I might try to guide someone:
If you can really change from one thing into another, both things must exist.
If they exist you should have a test to make sure you aren't already that which you seek to be (e.g. a man wants to have a full head of hair, a "hair restoration clinic" should make sure he's at least slightly balding before performing an operation. If he has a full head of hair with excellent and even coverage then he is deluded or has been lied to).
If you then attempt a change (e.g. a bald man gets hairplugs) and you then perform the same exact test, that should define success or failure.
Which men have become women? Which women have become men?
The logical conclusion of this in short is there is no way to transition as no man can become a woman, take upon himself her unique God-given gifts of motherhood, sisterhood, and everything else. He will always be 0% woman. The same applies to poor confused girls and women who cannot become boys or men.
The existence of broken and tragically malformed people, known as "intersex" by many only proves the rule that we are stuck as we are, and any deviation from conception to grave is a disaster to at least some degree, only tolerable in a lot of cases by medical assistance.