One-uppers

Do you have one of those friends/acquaintances that one-up's everything that you say?

You'll say something like:

"I enjoy this band."

Your friend will respond:
"I LOVE that band, I saw them on tour 30 times before they were even popular."

Or, you'll talk about something you accomplished:

"I learned how to ski this weekend, my instructor said I was naturally skilled at it."

They'll say:

"Oh man, I skied on the Moon and beat out 10 Olympians when I first learned to ski."

It's like no matter what you say they have some story about it that happens to be better than yours.

These people are sort of funny, but it can be maddening after a while.

Just a random thought. :sunny:

 

Lol I know what you mean. But I also hate the people who can't share in a moment or experience.

Overall yes, I agree and they annoy me.

 

i know someone who is even a bigger one-upper than that

 

I was just gonna do the same thing....
(true story though)...
I know a girl that no matter WHAT you go to talk about, she'll make a one sentence comment and then go into a thirty min story about herself on the same topic.
She's an ex-friend.

But, yes... one-up intended.

 

I used too... but he stopped being my friend cause I always told him to shut the fuck up.

 

yes i do

but i stopped being his friend when he told me to shut the fuck up

 

My friends and I used to call that big dog, little dog. " I used to smoke a pack a day until i quit." "that ain't nothin' man. I smoked 6 packs and 10 cigars a day until i quit." So when one of us told a story, if one of the other of us actually HAD a better story, the one doing the big dog would usually say--" What you said don't mean shit', thereby giving a nod to the fact that BD-LD-was recognized--kind of a left hand apology for doing it. Took you off the hook for one upping someone.

 

if someone does something like this occasionally (like saying they've seen the band 30 times, etc.), it may just be coincidental and not intentional one-upping.

it might be worthwhile to say something when they do this.

sometimes people have bad habits that they need to break, and telling them can help them do that.

If you want to keep friends, sometimes you need to live with the flaws that they can't or won't change. Usually a good friend will at least make an effort to not do something that is a problem.

If someone is more annoying than they're worth, it might be time to end the friendship, though that's not something to be taken lightly

 

Ha! That's nothin'



I don't have any friends.





Wait!

 

Yeah well i have a negative number of friends.

Like e7 mentioned...kind of. Its often (in my case) not meant to be a one up. its having a conversation. But if you give a tone that you are better for whatever the conversation is about then that is one upping and that person is the little dog for their attitude

 

Maybe it is just a way of communicating sharing the same thing as you....a commonality....not one upping at all......

 

I beg to differ.....

 

I have a feeling that sometimes people who do this are not even aware that they do. Possibly from it simply being a habit to a need to have that attention. I am not sure which.

 

That seems often the case, yes. I pretty much think 'obviously', because if they would be aware of it (and how it makes them come across to others) they would stop.
I also think almost everybody has been guilty of this behaviour at one point in their life (hey, if it's on accident/subconsciously it should not be a biggie!)

 

Everyone.....everyone...does this to an extent. It's when it's taken to extremes- all the time- over everything.

 

I'm not exactly anxious to be annoyed.

 

I think you're right. I admit when someone is telling me about something, I try to think of something similar that I've done just to share experiences, and if I've done something waaay better or cooler, I'm sure as hell gonna jump on that opportunity.

My old roommate had this girlfriend when he lived here that was a one-upper to the extreme, though. It started off as annoying and ended with my husband and I banning her from the house (well, it was just ONE of the many reasons we put our foot...feet? down). Screw her, man. She had some interesting stories for awhile but then they just started growing and everything that ever happened to her was either worse or better than whatever you were talking about, depending on the subject.

 

just did it today and it wasnt even about me.
i was having lunch with my mom at the local cafe when i girl she works with came in. they talked for a while then my mom says. "she has three jobs...she works with me, here and at the store on the highway."
i said "thats nothing i worked with a guy that had three jobs and he went to college."
i was just trying to be funny but after the look the girl gave me i realized i one-upped her and it wasnt even me upping her and it made it sound like 3 jobs isnt impressive but damn if i could do it anymore.

i felt bad but its not the kind of thing you apologize for.

 

Yup I used to have a friend that did this...used to. It gets old pretty quickly!

 

Well, I have two friends who did this.