Usually, when someone is crying, the person comforting them (or, in some cases, the person who just happens to be standing nearby when said waterworks commence) says something along the lines of "it's okay" and repeats infinite variations of this phrase over and over. The prolific application of this particular turn of phrase is utterly mysterious to me. The mystery of this action lies not in the action itself, nor the intentions of the comforter (it seems obvious to me that the intention is to bring solace, and in most cases, stop the crying), but rather in the actual meaning of the words. What do they mean, "it's okay"? Do they mean "don't cry, everything is all right?" or, "it's okay that you are crying--cry it out" (somehow I don't think this can be the case in those situations where the comforter is comforting the comfortee out of mere social obligation rather than real emotional investment) or does this inscrutable yet s...
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