I’m sick of being told I’m making excuses when someone asks what happened and I tell them. I honestly don’t understand if there is actually a difference or if people just don’t actually want to know and just want a reason to be mad
I’m sick of being told I’m making excuses when someone asks what happened and I tell them. I honestly don’t understand if there is actually a difference or if people just don’t actually want to know and just want a reason to be mad
Comments
Some people ask in bad faith. A reasonable person will recognize if you’re explaining or making an excuse.
If you tell us what happened, and give us the exact wording of your explanation, we can give you an opinion.
Generally speaking, explanations just lay out the facts of what happened. Excuses will include details that are only added to take blame off of yourself.
[deleted]
An excuse tends to try to foist blame on someone or something else.
“I was going to X but Bob was supposed to remind me… ‘
‘There was traffic… ‘ (unless it’s something extraordinary like and a plane landed on the freeway, you’re meant to account for the possibility of general traffic).
‘I couldn’t do my hw because my dad wanted me to clean my room.’ See above.
there is no excuse to cheat but it can be explained 🧘
I remember wondering the same thing when I was younger lol. It can feel like regardless of the circumstances people will call it an excuse (especially teachers). Hopefully the older you get the more benefit of the doubt you’ll have and it won’t be as much of an issue.
But basically an excuse is something you make up / use to avoid taking responsibility. An explanation is exactly what happened regardless of responsibility. You’re not bending circumstances to make it seem like it wasn’t your fault. And sometimes obviously things happen that are not your fault. Explaining those things as they are is still an explanation, not an excuse. Because you’re not using it to excuse anything. You’re just explaining what happened.
So someone calling your explanation an excuse is basically them calling bullshit. They’re saying they think you’re lying or twisting the truth to avoid taking responsibility. Kids do tend to do this quite a bit lol. But it’s still frustrating when you’re honest and someone doesn’t believe you. I recommend adopting a policy of honesty across the board, because that will earn you credibility with the people in your life and when something happens that’s not your fault, they’ll believe you. Because they know you’d own up to it if it was actually your fault. Plus life is just way easier when you default to being honest with people. Way less stressful and simple that way 🙂
an explanation and an excuse usually go hand in hand, you cant really give an excuse without giving an explanation as to why it is an excuse. yet again, wording with the English alphabet is pretty annoying.
lets say that your boss wanted a pair of glasses to cover his eyes. but you forgot due to being busy, just like your post with the ice-cream.
an explanation would go like this. “sorry I lost my train of thought ill do it now”. Now although it still uses an excuse it is an immediate effect afterwards excuses are usually used in a way that requires your mishaps to be justified within a time that is crucial. like forgetting to take the ice-cream out.
example of an excuse: “I’m sorry i wasn’t able to find your glasses on time due to being busy, ill try and solve it right away” The only reason this one is longer is because the situation was already to far from the anticipated timeframe of which the work was supposed to be done and since its an important job, people will see it as an excuse.
The lesson here is pretty simple. excuses are used on a matter that usually has importance but the timeframe was not met with expectancy. like shooting a missle towards a mates house but you forgot which button does what.
explanations are given on easier to work jobs like getting glasses from a shelve.
TLDR
explanations- easy to do jobs but with a mishap
excuse- important jobs but with a mishap.
it just relies on context towards the job you are doing.
It all depends on who you are talking to really.
Explanation= factual recitation of preceding causes; excuse= arguement for no moral culpability