"You had to be there..."

Evening, readers!! 

Sometimes, I feel like I'm always that annoying person that tells a joke or an anecdote then falls around laughing only to see the confused faces of my friends and say something along the lines of "...you had to be there" making me probably sound like some sort of plonker who doesn't understand how to tell jokes.

I do know jokes! Sometimes though- I feel like I lose track of the joke half way through, especially if its one of those long winded ones. Anecdotes though are different. If you tell an anecdote and you lose track halfway through, you have to make up the end because usually its an anecdote about yout own life and you must be able to recall it properly, because it happened to you!! This is always very embarassing, particularly if the made-up end to your anecdote isn't very funny when you have advertised it as such. Hence the "...you had to be there", unspoken get out clause of conversational etiquette. 

On the flip side of this metaphorical coin, I am always extremely annoyed by people who say "You had to be there" to me. Even though I completely identify with the reasons behind saying it,  I still find it most erksome- it feels as though instead of taking the time to explain something to me that I hadn't understood, my misunderstanding is brushed aside with "you had to be there" which of course makes me feel very stupid- and I think you'd be hard pushed to find someone who enjoyed feeling like that. 

So it seems I am stuck in the middle between being guilty of losing my thread, or misjudging how funny a joke or anecdote was and being told that I "Had to be there" to get it. I am in the centre of this proverbial venn diagram, and I'm not sure I like it. I'd rather be in one circle or the other, but I suspect rather more people than are willing to admit fall into the middle as I do. I say we put it to the vote! We should either totally drop this phrase from our conversations, or go on the way we have been for as long as I can remember- allowing confusion and frustration to ensue over those five little words. 

What do you think? Are you the sort of person who says "You had to be there" ? Maybe its something people say to you a lot? Perhaps you're like me and fall in the middle. Let me know in the comments! 

Today, this is me:

See you tomorrow,

-Rosa

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