Woman Accidentally Tells Supervisor to “Shoot Himself” — Realizes She’s Been Saying Phrase All Wrong

It's not uncommon for folks to hear things incorrectly and then repeat the aforementioned incorrect statement since they don't know any better. Take popular songs that have stood the test of time, like "Blinded by the Light" which has a particular word almost everyone appears to have misheard, probably because of the way the band's lead singer pronounces it.

For a TikTok user named Sylvet (@sylverbellz) it wasn't mistakenly saying a bad word as part of a song that otherwise had an innocuous meaning. Instead, she had a fundamental misunderstanding of the phrase "suit yourself."

Over several years, she learned that she was, instead, recommending that people point a gun at themselves and pull the trigger. That all changed during an interaction with her supervisor during one fateful day on the job.

Sylvet begins her video by speaking into the camera with a pensive disposition. When she speaks, she proposes a question to her viewers. "You know how when it's like 1:30 in the morning and you're laying in bed but you can't go to sleep cause you keep thinking about that stupid thing that you said or did?"

Next, she shares a thought that is constantly on her mind. "I keep thinking about when I was at work one time. And, it was the end of the day. And everyone was leaving and we were all gonna go out for drinks. And, one of my supervisors was still working and I said, 'Oh are you coming?'"

Following this, she revealed that her supervisor denied her request to come out with her friends. Instead, he decided to stay behind and opted to continue to put in more hours for the job. "And he said, no, I'm gonna get more work done, have fun and I said, OK! Shoot yourself!"

This odd phrasing prompted a reaction from her supervisor, who couldn't seem to understand why she would say such a thing. "And then he stopped what he was doing and he looked at me and he said, what?"

Not thinking she said anything wrong to her supervisor, she prompted the same question right back to him. "And I said, what? And then he said did you just tell me to shoot myself?"

Again, Sylvet didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with what she told her work manager, despite the fact he was clearly taken aback by what she just told him.

"And I said, yes. And he said, why? And then I said, well, you know, because, you just wanna stay here and work and you're gonna do what you want to do so shoot yourself."

It's at this point in their conversation that Sylvet's manager begins to understand that she was probably confusing the popular phrase, "suit yourself" with "shoot yourself," and that she may've been mishearing this colloquialism for quite some time.

"And he looked at me and he said, do you think it's 'shoot yourself?' I said, yeah, like, what else would it be? And he said, 'suit yourself, Sylvet. It's suit yourself."

Following this, Sylvet takes a brief pause in relaying her story before continuing. "And then I realized that I've been telling people to shoot themselves and no one ever corrected me, they just looked at me really weird."

Next, she begins looking off-camera as she continues to relay her thoughts on this lifelong gaffe. "And now ... I know why."

As mortified as she must've been at this blunder, there were several other people on the application who shared their own embarrassing incidents in the same vein as her self-imposed mistaken humiliation.

One commenter replied with a brief anecdote where she uttered a single word she inexplicably shouted while taking some candy from a coworker. "I took a piece of candy off of my boss’s desk (white lady) and yelled “REPARATIONS!” and she looked horrified … idk why I did that."

And then there was this other user who, while conversing with a homeless individual, uttered a phrase they more than likely commonly say to people who have an abode to go back to. "I once told a houseless person to get home safe. I was not well for 3-5 business months."

For this other TikToker, it's the fact that they thought an insulting term was actually one of endearment. Unfortunately, there were several individuals who used this moniker before they learned otherwise. "I thought 'thunder thighs' was a compliment. I thought it meant you have strong thighs. I've said, "'Look at those thunder thighs' to multiple people before someone got mad and told me off and I learned."

Another TikToker user stated that they are sure to go out of their way to ensure folks are saying specific phrases properly. This way, they can assist them in avoiding any future heartache. "See this is why I always correct ppl when they use idioms or figures of speech incorrectly. I’m trying to save them!"

However, there were others who were baffled as to why she originally thought the phrase was "shoot yourself." Furthermore, they expressed shock that Sylvet's manager was the first person to ever share the right way the idiom is said. "First of all … WHY did you think it was that? and WHY was he the first person to ever correct you?"

Arguably, this other user's mistake was at least a bit more embarrassing that Sylvet's mistake. "Someone told me she had a hard time accepting compliments, and that she is self-defecating. I’m sorry did you mean self-deprecating."