why people say they're awake when they're not

[Arienette]

i'm asleep. the phone rings. the person on the other end asks "did i wake you?" i say no, even though they did... and it's completely obvious from my voice and lack of coherence that i was, in fact, asleep. why not just say so? it's not as though there's anything shameful or embarrasing about sleeping. i don't understand it, yet i do it. any insight?

......................
the moon it leaves silver but never sleep
and then the silver turns to grey
oh, stay with me, arienette, until the wolves are away

[Jennitalia]

you just described Just Jon. This is what happens every weekend: We'll be laying on the couch watching a movie or something, and I'll see that he's sleeping. I'll ask "Jon, are you tired, do you want to go to bed?" and he always replies, "no, i'm wide awake." ten seconds later he'll start snoring, so i ask again, "hey jon, if you're tired, let's go to bed" and he'll either reply that he's not tired, or start babbling something i cant comprehend or talk about something else while he's asleep. my boyfriend is a freak.

<IMG SRC="http://www.chaoticconcepts.com/bans/jensig.gif">

[TomPoo]

cause your too tired to come up with a wise ass remark

<IMG SRC="http://tompoo.50megs.com/images/sig_2.jpg" width=296 height=107>
There is nothing more exhilerating than pointing out
the shortcomings of others, is there?
---Tom Poo

[TheGameHHH]

HAHAHA my sister is notorious for that, whenever I call her and she's asleep, no matter what she will tell me I didn't wake her up.

IT'S TIME TO PLAY THE GAME-AHHH!

<IMG SRC="http://www.burntrailradio.com/RFnetTheGameHHH.jpg">

[DaniGirl]

When people call me and wake me up and ask if i'm sleeping I just hang up on them. It's the best solution.

"I am hanging on every word you say and even if you don't want to speak tonight that's alright with me. I want nothing more than to sit outside heaven's door and listen to you breathing, it's where I wanna be."

[irishkb]

The people who call and ask you if you were sleeping usually know your sleeping habits and know that and still call.. so when they call either in the middle of the nite or early in the morning i feel it my right to be a little mean.. this happened to me this morning. my mom called and asked did i wake you, i looked at the clock and was like what the hell do you think..good thing she has a good sense of humor...

The average American consumes close to 24 gallons of beer per year.

[HordeKing1]

An interesting question.

Not EVERYONE says they're awake but a small unscientific poll among some friends show that the "awake when asleep" people are in the majority. I don't have a hard and fast rule. It partially depends on the person calling, the time of the call and the purpose of it.

I find that I'm much more likely to tell someone I talk to regularly that I was sleeping (or am sleeping!) than a person I speak to less frequently.

The impulse to deny being asleep may be based on curtesy to the caller, but I feel it more likely to be a bit more self-serving than that. When caught unaware, (sleeping) and awakened by the ringing phone, a person may feel that they were caught with their guard down. Saying they were already up helps convince themselves that they weren't really caught napping (and thus were not vulnerable).

http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/hking2

[Dan]

I just turn my ringer off.

http://members.aol.com/rnfpantera/dansig1
Check out my <font color=red>New</font> Column ("King of Pop My Ass") on FoundryMusic.com: http://www.foundrymusic.net/magazine/displaycolumn.cfm?intsubject=84&intcateg=2

[FUNKMAN]

depends on who's calling, if it's a family member you don't want to make e'm feel bad...

<img src="http://www.markfarner.com/2001tour/ribfest8_small.jpg">

[wilee]

If I can pick up the phone, yes, I'm awake. If I were asleep, I would not be picking up the phone.

<IMG SRC="http://cwjr.home.infi.net/rocket.jpg">