I don't understand

--This is day 3 in "The 7 Last Days of Summer"--

It's a phrase people say. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean, and I'm never sure what to say in response. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to take it literally--I think it's supposed to be a joke. It's not funny, and yet people persist in saying it (the perfect definition of a joke).

I'm sure you've heard some form of it.

Whenever I hear it, the previous conversation has centered around an annoyance. The annoyance being another human: spouse, child, parent, boss, employee, or co-worker etc.

At some point in the conversation the speaker says,

"Guess that's just him being a man. I tell you--men. Wouldn't the world be perfect without them?"

or

"You know if women ran the world, there would be no problems."

or (from the other POV--I've heard my share of both)

"Women--can't live with them, can't live without them."

or

"Women create all the problems in the world--life would be better without them."

or

"That's just a feeble-minded response from the weaker sex." (I've actually heard this applied to both)

That is not the worst part of the conversation, though. The awkwardness multiplies when the person looks at you and smiles.

My problem is simple. All I want to know is "NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?"

Do I smile back? That makes it look as if we are sharing some mystical bond of genderhood (which I actually don't think is a word. Substitute womanhood or manhood-I just hate both those words.)

Do I laugh? Were you making a joke? You were annoyed about something, and I thought we were talking about solutions. Is your best solution seriously making the other gender extinct?

If I don't laugh, do I have to explain why I'm not laughing? Do I sit you down and explain that taking your frustrations from one human, and blaming them on the whole of the opposite sex is cheap and unworthy of anyone? Do I explain there are lots of human beings in the world, and every human being thinks differently than every other human being? And how, although confusing as it sometimes is, if you care enough about the other person (regardless of whether they are the opposite or same sex) you'll spend time trying to figure out where you two differ?

Or do I just laugh because I know no one--not even the annoyed speaker--actually wants that?


I'm confused, and I always will be. Every time someone says something like it, I want to make them stop. And then go think about what they just said.

It's not funny, it's not true, it's not intelligent, it's not a good idea, it's not possible, and it's still not funny.

How are people still saying it?