People Stealing Your Ideas Because You're Quiet

theoutsider

theoutsider

Well-known member
Does anybody have or have had in the past a problem with people stealing your thoughts/jokes/ideas? You may have come up with it but you told one person or maybe you didn't say it loud enough. Then that one person goes on to repeat what you said and claim all the credit for it. I had a friend like that when I was growing up. I'd tell a joke in front of a smaller crowd or maybe just to him. Sometimes not even an hour later I'd hear him telling the same joke and getting credit for it just as if he had come up with it. Fast forward to now, I can't count how many times I've had a good idea at work. Either I've said it too quietly and not enough people heard it or I said it loud enough and for some reason nobody gave my suggestion much attention. Then later somebody else says the same thing and he's a freaking genius in everyone's eyes! By then it's too late to say, "Hey, I came up with that!" because I look like I'm desperate for attention. Bugs me to no end.
 
AtTheGates

AtTheGates

Banned
EXACTLY!!! thats happen to me so many times...I wouldnt be suprised if another dude even got laid because of some shit that I came up with.
 
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Diend

Diend

Well-known member
hahahaha. i mean, you can't control his actions so if you can't let it go, you gotta be louder and have greater stage presence. there's literally no other way. fight dirty.
 
Sacrament

Sacrament

Well-known member
You don't really own those jokes, I guess. If you want to appear funny to others, you have to include them in the process of listening to your jokes. Then again, if that friend of yours had to steal your joke, then he/she wouldn't really be able to keep it up for a long time because he/she didn't have his/her own material to work with.
 
theoutsider

theoutsider

Well-known member
Sacrament said:
You don't really own those jokes, I guess. If you want to appear funny to others, you have to include them in the process of listening to your jokes. Then again, if that friend of yours had to steal your joke, then he/she wouldn't really be able to keep it up for a long time because he/she didn't have his/her own material to work with.
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True. I eventually realized the friend I was describing would often hang around me just to get new material, like he didn't have any of his own so he was trying to steal a little bit of my personality.
 
Sacrament

Sacrament

Well-known member
I suppose one good thing you can take from that whole experience is that someone admired a part of you enough to emulate it and make it their own. Ego boost!
 
Ithior

Ithior

Well-known member
Happens to me sometimes. Though the guy I tell it to usually says I was the one who said it.
 
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NamiraWilhelm

Well-known member
Lol, this reminds me of school. When the teacher would ask a question I'd mutter the answer under my breath, and my best friend next to me would shout it out and get the praise. Just made me laugh more than anything.

People have definitely stolen my jokes too, but as others have said it's a great form of flattery!
 
SeasonalBlues

SeasonalBlues

Well-known member
So many jokes were stolen from me in high school. I didn't hold it against them though. I felt like a proud (and very bitter) dad.
 
Graeme1988

Graeme1988

Hie yer hence from me heath!
Ah did tha mutterin' answers tae question thing, mainly - like Namira.

But ah've never hud a joke stolen from me. Why? Because ah'm funny. Naw, actually, it wus mainly because ah hud exposure tae comedy at an early age. So tha humour as defense sorta kick in early.

Ah jist rarely hud tha nerve tae say most o' ma jokes oot loud. Mainly because 95% were brutal putdowns to bullies or ma attempt at pretendin' tae be mentally ill. Tha rest wus sub-par impressio

Wi' ma jokes, ah jist tried tae put an unique spin oan them. Make somebuddy laugh. Contradict tha punchline, take a joke too far - which is great coz ye git tha "Ah cannae believe he/she jist said" laugh. Ah've hud folk repeat ma jokes or one-liners back tae me, though. Which can be nice coz if yer an outsider, it makes ye feel like ye belong.
 
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theoutsider

theoutsider

Well-known member
Sacrament said:
I suppose one good thing you can take from that whole experience is that someone admired a part of you enough to emulate it and make it their own. Ego boost!
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I'm not egotistical though. I just dislike something I created or thought up being credited to an idea thief...lol.
 
S

sorrow1

Well-known member
I have had this. But I realise that I could have told the same joke to loads of people too if I had the confidence to do it and was friendly with as many people. We all like to recite funny stuff we heard on TV to each other so its not really different to that.
What I hate though is when I know the answer to a question or come up with a funny remark but don't have the confidence to speak up and voice it and in my delay someone else comes out with it first. I kick myself so many times for that!
 
theoutsider

theoutsider

Well-known member
sorrow1 said:
I have had this. But I realise that I could have told the same joke to loads of people too if I had the confidence to do it and was friendly with as many people. We all like to recite funny stuff we heard on TV to each other so its not really different to that.
What I hate though is when I know the answer to a question or come up with a funny remark but don't have the confidence to speak up and voice it and in my delay someone else comes out with it first. I kick myself so many times for that!
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I do the keep quiet thing sometimes too. Usually it's when I'm thinking what I have to say might be either a wrong answer or incredibly stupid (I have a habit of blurting out stupid things sometimes). Then somebody else will say it and have it received very well. I feel your pain.
 
D

Deco

Well-known member
I cared more about it during school, but after sometime I stopped worrying about it.
Many people will do it anyway.
I tend to be sarcastic, mostly when I'm stressed. In my last job some people from my department using my jokes frequently. Actually, one of the few good things I remember from those days.
 
AtTheGates

AtTheGates

Banned
is really just a popularity issue...whichever guy people like more is generally going to be the one who gets more laughs because people just WANT to kiss his a$s....but thats also how you KNOW the joke is good if YOU say it and people laugh at it despite the fact that they dont like you or you're not accepted by the masses....
 
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Graeme1988

Graeme1988

Hie yer hence from me heath!
Sacrament said:
Still don't understand why this guy types like that.
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:eek:mg: It's a Scottish thing... Is it becomin' an annoyin', like? Me givin' in laldy with ma native language? Ah mean, ah stop typin' in ma native dialect if ye want me tae? Nae skin off ma nose, pal.

theoutsider said:
I was wondering the same thing. I thought I was missing something. :bigsmile:
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NamiraWilhelm said:
Careful, he has fangirls and we'll come after you!
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