I was lining up for the elevator in a hotel.
I was with a large suitcase, and the elevator was tiny, so I told the man who was in front of me and who got into the elevator first, “It’s okay, I’ll take the next one.”
The only word he replied before he pushed the close bottom was “Sure.”
Initially, I thought it meant something like “Okay”, which was a kind of neutral reply.
However, I found some nasty definitions on the Internet, saying that the usage of “Sure” is actually pretty sarcastic and mean.
So, it occurred to me that was that man being sarcastic and mean to me?
He saw I was with a large suitcase and maybe my size was not too small, so his “Sure” was kind of like “Of course you should wait for the next one. Don’t come in this elevator. I don’t give a fuck about what happened to you. Just stay out.”?
Not sure about where that man’s from, but his “Sure” sounds pretty natural and fluent, which indicates to me that he may be a native English speaker from one of the English-speaking countries.
Was he being sarcastic, mean, or bad?
Or, was he being completely neutral saying that.
That’s my question.
But isn’t “Okay” or “All right” more neutral and less controversial?
He saw me taking a large suitcase and I’m not a small guy, so his “Sure” may be (my speculation so far) kind of like “Of course you should let me go first. You and your suitcase are both big. Of course you should stay out of this elevator.”?
Sure means exactly the same thing as okay, even though it’s almost always translated into Chinese as 當然. I can see how this could possibly be cause for confusion.
I was not expecting “Oh, thank you.”
I was not expecting anything actually. He could have just nod without saying a word, or said “Okay”, which were both kind of neutral.
I didn’t overthink until I saw the nasty definition of “Sure” on Urban Dictionary.
I shouldn’t have read that, though.
You could say anything sarcastically. You could say “okay” sarcastically or nastily if you wanted. It would be a mistake to read “sure” as anything sarcastic or nasty in the absence of any other context.
In the context you described I think most native English speakers, especially from the USA will use “sure” as ok. You have already noted yourself, he had no reason to thank you since he was there first and it was your decision not to get in.
As tempogain has mentioned you can say virtually anything with words that are neutral, but with a tone that is sarcastic or patronizing or funny or whatever. But I cannot imagine a case where you have 5 seconds to reply and he is going to come out with a one word zinger like "sure’ to somehow put you in your place or be mean.
Like many google searches, think twice before clicking search. It’s the same with trying to self-diagnosis a medical symptom or some weird thingy under your tongue or whether or not you are going bald. All signs point to cancer (even for baldness…lol) if you listen to google.
With all do respect, because it seems like you are looking for respect above all else, is that you really shouldn’t project your beliefs and feelings onto other people words or in this case a single word. Give people the ‘benefit of the doubt’ especially in situations where there is no reason to be so bothered by it that you must spend time with google searches and translations and forum posts. All he said was “sure”.
Are we really coming to the point where in actual face-to-face interactions we need some emoticon to show we are being neutral or friendly or angry?
haha, but perhaps we are not that far off from that.
Reminds me of Black Mirror season 3, episode 1.
The reality they created is where you can “rate” people based on your interactions with them in ‘real time’ with your phone. Then you would have to be overly happy or polite or whatever just so you don’t make people feel bad or confused or upset to keep your own ‘score’ high.
