Is "It's really nice" a synonym for "I don't want this"?

I've heard the phrase, "It's really nice" so many times in relation to an item someone is offering to give me that it got me thinking.  If it's so nice, nice to the extent that it's "really" nice, then why does the person want to give it away?   I think it's fair to say that in most cases the phrase, "it's really nice," means, "I don't want this, but don't you want it because I'd like to find a nice home for this and I'm hoping you will want it so I don't have to throw it away or have it go to waste."

Usually, this item is something the person no longer need for and wants to find it a new home.  Sometimes it's a consumable.  Maybe it was a gift and it's more than the person can eat before it goes bad or maybe it just doesn't match their taste.   But it does feel a bit like a coercion tactic when you're told "Don't you want this?  It's really nice."

Because no one is going to say, "Would you like this completely useless thing?  It's complete crap, but I don't want it and you look like you might want some more junk."  I remember last year or maybe two years ago a strange mailing came to both my parents and my in-laws.  It was some sort of native American sun catcher.  I think it might have been some sort of solicitation for money, I don't know because I didn't get one.  And yet it looked too nice to just throw away.

Guess how many sun catchers we were offered?  If you said two, you would be correct.  It took us a bit to realize we had two of the exact same thing that came from two different people living in two different cities.  Then it came out it was something that came in the mail that no one wanted but looked too nice to throw away.  I'm not sure what we did with them, I suppose my son had a good time playing with them.

I have a feeling I'm equally guilty of the, "It's really nice, don't you want it?" syndrome.  I understand the need to clean up, clean out and not make more waste than necessary.  But I'm starting to be more firm in my "no thank you" replies and I'm going to try and be more aware that while I think I might be offering something that's, "really nice," if I'm honest with myself, the underlying motivation is that I don't want the item and am just looking for a way to get rid of it.

The Big Boy Update:  Excabator!  He knows where all the excavators are on the way to school.  He will tell me one is coming up, even before we get to it.  I didn't realize this until he predicted excavators on the side of the road, correctly, multiple times.   He knows his big machines.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Daddy.  That's right, "daddy".  She's been saying "da da" for a while, but is that "daddy" or is that just the da da da da sound?  This morning she said, "daddy" multiple times.  On the way to school I asked her to say daddy and she immediately repeated me.

Fitness Update:  Cold and rainy and we had to cancel our morning run.  My husband has the flu, but we're going to try and run this afternoon if the children will accommodate us with some naps so daddy can rest. 

Someone Once Said:  It is impossible to free slaves, they have to free themselves.