I was discussing something on another SE site(link). The discussion with full context is,
I searched and found two recent mechanics questions which got migrated to Phys.SE, 1 and 2. Note that problem solving questions aren't allowed on Phys.SE, only conceptual questions are. So homwork questions migrated from MSE can be closed there. — user103816 yesterday
@user103816 These two aren't math questions at all… By the way, 10k users can check the list of recently migrated questions here. I count six questions migrated to Phys.SE in February. Only one of them had some amount of mathematical content, and in that case the OP requested themselves for the question to be migrated. – Najib Idrissi yesterday
@NajibIdrissi Both of them are classical mechanics questions. Classical Mechanics is a well known field of Mathematics. – user103816 yesterday
Classical Mechanics is not a field of Mathematics. – quid yesterday
"Classical Mechanics is a well known field of Mathematics." Do you even listen to yourself…? – Najib Idrissi yesterday
- Is the phrase "listen to yourself" some idiomatic expression? Or does it literally ask me can I listen to myself. What does it mean?
- When is it used? Does it have a negative connotation?
Now let us discuss the exact phrase, "Do you even listen to yourself…?". As I understand it is asking me do you listen to yourself with emphasis. What I am confused about is whether it says me that I do not listen to myself all the time I say something, or, just that I didn't listen to myself only when I wrote that "…well known…" sentence. E.g. consider the sentence "Do you even wash hands". To me it appears that someone is implying that I never wash hands, that is a an every-day(continuous) type action. I cannot conceive a one-time type sentence with wording "Do you even xyz".
- Is the sentence "Do you even listen to yourself…?" a continuous type question or one-time type?
- What does the three dots after 'yourself…' mean?
- As a native English speaker if you put yourself in my position then how much negative that sentence would sound to you? That is what is its level of negativeness? Is it simply rude or highly humiliating?
- Another thing that user Mar Amezani said is that 'even' gives the sentence some negative cannonation and if it is replaced by 'ever' then the sentence is okay. How is the sentence Do you even listen to yourself…? different from Do you ever listen to yourself…? Is the second version a continuous type action sentence or one-time type?
Best Answer
The user "Najib Idrissi" asks the author of the sentence
Classical Mechanics is a well known field of Mathematics.to read that statement for themselves. Najib makes sure that the author will realize the scientific mistake in that sentence and, in short, "will come to their senses."It's like your friend has told you something very oddly wrong, and you didn't expect him to say so. You tell him/her to listen to himself/herself, so that s/he will realize the mistake they've made. In this case, it seems very rudimentary to the mathematicians that "classical mechanics" are a physics' subject, and hardly related to math. So, "well known", as it means that "many are familiar with it being a part of mathematics" seems a very idiotic expression to them, as if the author didn't know what they were typing, or simply, talking about.
If you ask me, there is a bit of negative connotation in this sentence, but it wouldn't be considered as offensive. (As "offensive" is too strong for it)
In fact, the expression "listen to yourself" is commonly used in the area of philosophy when there's a speak of art of communicating between humans.
philosophy reference 1
philosophy reference 2
The third
And this is a nice example of a similar usage. (Though it contains the expression and not the exact question)
in Google books