I’m sorry if this seems dumb. I tend to take things literally and “mutual” and “exclusive” seem to be antonyms but mutually exclusive is a term used a lot and it confuses the crap out of me. I’m a native English speaker also.
Does it mean that the two things CAN exist together? I feel like my brain does gymnastics trying to understand the term; I’m not a dumb person but this term just totally eludes me!
Please don’t attack me, just trying to not feel stupid.
In: 49
While all of these explanations are great, I feel like they are over complicating things.
Generally, when I use this saying, it’s to say that two things, whatever they may be, “are not mutually exclusive.” All this means, is that two things can be true at once. One thing does not limit the other from being true or possible. (You can be hungry and tired, they are not mutually exclusive and both can be true at the same time.) I think it’s easier to understand this way.
Knowing this, you can logically infer that if two things ARE mutually exclusive, they can’t both be true at once. Many have already used a coin toss – it’s either going to be heads or tails, it can’t be both, as one outcome limits the other from being true or possible.
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