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Sweet Nothings

People acknowledge that a "sweet nothing" is a "nothing"; it has no content. So how can it be considered sweet?

Elliot Temple on September 19, 2008
Discuss this on my forum (see also the forum intro post).

Archived Comments (3)

Same way a piece of candy with no nutritive value can be considered sweet, I suppose.

Not that this vindicates the 'sweet nothing' concept all that much.

Sonic Charmer


Anonymous at 4:45 PM on September 19, 2008 | #1527

It'd be sweeter if instead of saying 'sweet nothings' they just said nothing.


Anonymous at 8:19 PM on September 19, 2008 | #1528

Sweet nothings are not nothing. They are phatic utterances: vocalizations that have the purpose of binding people together socially or lovingly.

rlubbock


Anonymous at 5:27 AM on September 20, 2008 | #1529