"I am slow"

I was perusing a discussion on the SGRunner Forum in Oct 2007 that examines whether it is appropriate to say "I am slow" when in fact that person is fast. Because I often say that I am slow - which for the record, is true ... see my last post - I was quite interested in the implications that statement sometimes evoke.

Sotong provides an interesting social context:

Imagine Scenario A:
A: "Wah saw you ran very fast for the XXX race hor? What's your pace?"
B: "Yeah!!! I'm fast... I ran at 5:30mins/km pace!!!"
C (who ran 5mins/km pace) will think: "Huh? like that also dare to say he's fast? gimme a break!!!"
And thereafter, C will have the impression that B is boastful.....

Imagine Scenario B:
A: "Wah saw you ran very fast for the XXX race hor? What's your pace?"
B: "Slow lah.... only managed 5:30mins/km pace!!!"
C (who ran 6mins/km pace) will think: "Wah.. run so fast still say slow.... suan me lah!!!"
And thereafter, C will have the impression that B is an inconsiderate and proud person

Imagine Scenario C:
A: "Wah saw you ran very fast for the XXX race hor? What's your pace?"
B: "Good run for me... enjoyed myself"
C (regardless what pace he ran) will think: "Wah liow... people ask you what pace, so dao... don't say"

Morale of the story... you can't please everybody.

Gentle notes the following example:

consider 3 friends A, B and C:

A: "i run 7 min/km, i am slow"
B: "i run 6 min/km, i am slow"
C: "i run 5 min/km, i am slow"

everyone above is technically correct, because there is always the next person who can do faster...(even C can compare with someone else faster)

if you are C, you are indirectly saying that B and A are slower runners
if you are B, you are indirectly saying that A is a slower runner
if you are A, it doesn't help by reinforcing that you are slow

so saying "i am slow" actually doesn't benefit anyone, no matter how fast or slow you are...

it is almost as bad as saying "i am fast"

same goes for these:
"i am poor"
"i am a lousy at school"

i hope we are now more convinced that "i am slow" should not be used loosely... it is likely to either hurt the feelings of others, or have a negative impact on your confidence...but go ahead to use it if you are refering to something specific..."i was the slowest guy running at last tuesday's run", "my 10km time was 5 mins slower last year", "my SBR run was 5 mins slower than brokie, i want to revenge and beat her by 5 mins for SCSM"

Halftimer notes:

It's an interesting social behavior that in the case of running, we generally tend to be humble and will say " I run slow lah" even though we are fast runners. But in the case of intelligence, will anyone say "I am stupid lah" no matter what low IQ score he/she has? Hardly you will hear such response. The former is false negative and the later is false positive.

We don't mean what we say.

How true!