Dumbass Sayings: “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls”

Chasing stationary places is
actually harder than it sounds.

Everyone knows this classic saying from the TLC smash hit song “Waterfalls” where the hip hop group cautions us against the action of “chasing waterfalls.” This saying has come under a lot of scrutiny as a nonsensical and completely fabricated piece of advice that absolutely no one can relate to and that’s for good reason. The primary mistake with this saying is that you can’t physically chase static objects even if they contain moving parts like a waterfall. That’s like saying “Don’t go chasing bridges” or “Don’t go chasing burning factories.”

The real question here is why shouldn’t people chase waterfalls? What is so bad about waterfalls exactly? Personally I think they’re one of nature’s wonders. Niagara Falls is a huge tourist destination and I’ve heard it’s breathtaking. Why should one not chase that experience? Now I wouldn’t recommend climbing into a waterfall because the water will pummel you, but that’s a different thing entirely. How about we say “Don’t go putting your head under waterfalls.”? That makes a little more sense.

I think the way you can tell this is a dumb saying is that no one really uses it in day to day life except in a joking manner. If this was a good saying, people would be telling you “Don’t go chasing waterfalls” any time something bad happened to you. Instead, when someone tells you that, your first instinct is to laugh. Then maybe later on you put in your old TLC CD and start dancing to the song alone in your pajamas while you’re getting drunk on Jagermeister. I don’t know what YOU do. I can only speak for myself here.