The Disney movie Tangled illustrates to perfection one of my biggest pet peeves—the words “just kidding.”  It’s rampant in every social setting I can think of.  We’ve even shortened it to “JK” for the texting savvy generation.  But let’s face it, if you have to qualify something you’ve said or wrote with “just kidding”, all you’re doing is attempting to soften the insult you’ve just flung.

For example: Wow! Your mother made you that sweater.  I’d tell her not to next time.  JK 🙂

See, it’s like trying to coat crap in a candy shell, but guess what, IT’S STILL CRAP INSIDE.  Would you want to eat it? Yet, you expect the person to ingest your cruelty of words without feeling any residual hurt. Or to, “Stop taking everything so seriously.”

Tempering bad habits is not an easy thing to do, but trust me, for the sake of your now and future relationships, cut the “just kidding” phrase out of your word bank.  It’s not fooling anyone.