Sit well

Sit well

I’m going to give you a really easy expression today—and that is “to sit well.” If something doesn’t sit well with you, that means you are uncomfortable with it. It doesn’t make you feel very good. The idea of totally erasing all past works of art by artists who have behaved badly doesn’t sit well with me. Alfred Hitchcock was a brilliant director who changed cinema forever; should we erase all his movies from history because we found out he took advantage of women on the sets? That doesn’t sit well with me, as I explained before. But just ignoring all this doesn’t sit well with me either. It forces us, as consumers, to decide where we draw the line.

You can see this in politics sometimes. I bet a lot of people who voted for Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil did so because they wanted to see economic change, and to see the security situation in Brazil improve. But I also think that many of Bolsonaro’s statements don’t sit well with those same supporters. It’s true here, too—a lot of people who support Donald Trump, say that his statements on Twitter don’t sit well with them.

You remember Juul? We talked about that in Episode 56. A lot of doctors like the fact that a less-deadly alternative to cigarettes is available, but the fact that so many teens are using Juul doesn’t sit well with them. Juul says their product is for adults who want to quit smoking, but at the same time, they market the product to their biggest customer bloc: teenagers who have never smoked in the first place. That doesn’t sit well with doctors, and in many places, it doesn’t sit well with government regulators.

Thanks for joining us once more. JR and I are so incredibly grateful that you have invited us into your lives. The notes we got this week just illustrate the many, many ways you all use Plain English. It is a privilege and an honor, and JR and I are both very thankful to have you with us. If you want to connect with us by email, just visit PlainEnglish.com/mail to join the e-mail list. You’ll get a series of welcome messages from me, plus a special email for every episode with all kinds of additional resources. All free for you at PlainEnglish.com/mail. And if WhatsApp is more your style, add us as a contact and send a quick hello to +1 312 967 8757. We’ll see you right back here on Thursday.