Bless your heart !

Bless your heart covers almost every situation from wedding disasters, a bad driver, death and taxes. Oh, sure you say, some hackneyed expression used as to thinly veil an insult and it is suddenly the one line univeral statement for every situation. Most definately, I think, and if you don't get it well "Bless your heart", I will attempt to explain in the following examples:

1. Your dearest friend gets a bad hair cut and she is so upset, well the hair cut might be indeed bad but you certainly don't agree or even if it looks cute to you that does not help her at the time. So what do you say, you, in a most sympathetic tone say "Bless your heart", let see what we can do about it.

2. Perhaps a stranger in a public restroom starts telling you about their children and how one was really loud like your own child, who you are pleading with to stop singing while in the stall of afore mentioned bathroom, (not pleasantly mind you , but off key off pitch and well just bless the childs heart it would make animals howl) The kind stranger goes on in her story about having one child who could not hear and would pull his mothers face around while she was driving so she could see his signing to her. Well, at this point, some of you might be at a loss as what to say but I found myself going back on the most helpful phrase of " Bless your heart", It perfectly summed up all of my feelings and emotions at the time and the person perfectly understood my meaning which was, thank you for not saying how annoying my child was being, how sweet of you to relate the story of your children to make me feel better, and how sorry I was that one of her own dear children was deaf. She smiled as did I, and my little singer finally did me the great honor of finishing her toilet top concert and washed up as she knew nothing of the embrassment of her actions caused her poor mom (me).

3. A family member calls and relates the harsh news that indeed they owe a goodly some for taxes, well, you could tell them to think of it as an interest free loan from the govt. all this year or how they should be thankfull that they made enough to have to pay. You could start ranting about the horrors of how the govt. spends the money and let the conversation get both quite depressed. Well, would it not be much better to say "Bless your heart", in such a tone that conveys your understanding of all the former lenghty conversastion which only leads to more suffering. So "Bless your heart" and hon, have a piece of pie completely makes things seem better.

4. Yes, certainly "Bless your heart can be an thinly veiled insult but then it must have a slight deviation from your to her or his. An example being that someone comes to the attention of you and a friend or family member, who has decided to wear the most odious of all fashions statements which that one could make and you make a slight grimace, look at each other and say bless HER (or HIS) heart, do people not have mirrors ? (or some such other comment)

The list could go on and on about the wonderfull catch all phrase of bless your heart and it's myriad of applications for use as sympathy, friendship, kindness or disdain, but if you just cannot understand it , well "Bless your heart."