redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
Redbird ([personal profile] redbird) wrote2005-03-30 12:24 pm
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"I don't want to discuss this topic now" does not mean "Go away, I don't want to talk to you."

[identity profile] perigee.livejournal.com 2005-03-30 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
No, but as an experienced Assertiveness speaker (in daily life), I've noticed that a lot of people seem to mistake the former for the latter.

[identity profile] cakmpls.livejournal.com 2005-03-30 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Being so literal, I probably wouldn't hear the latter unless that was (in my mind) the only reason I was talking with someone at the moment.

Gaaack. How do any of us ever communicate?
ext_28681: (Default)

[identity profile] akirlu.livejournal.com 2005-03-30 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, it might if you speak Minnesotan, or one of the other more tender, nuance-inflected dialects of American. I prefer blunt explicitness myself, but when dealing with a lover originally from Wisconsin, this will get me accused of being "mean". I never stop croggling at the breadth of possible communication styles, and how desperately badly they can mesh, even with the best of intentions on all sides. Especially if one or more parties doesn't recognize that a difference in style, rather than the presence of positive malice, is the problem. So yes, I agree with you, but I can imagine lots of people who wouldn't believe it unless they were told.

[identity profile] roadnotes.livejournal.com 2005-03-30 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)
For some reason, that one seems to be misheard/misread easily.

[identity profile] catamorphism.livejournal.com 2005-03-30 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
This (http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/tact.html) might be relevant...

[identity profile] adrian-turtle.livejournal.com 2005-03-31 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
In some dialects, that's exactly what it means. I don't know how common this is, but there are ... places? subcultures? where "I don't want to discuss this topic now" is a relatively gentle way to end a conversation. Attempting to change the subject and continue the conversation, thus forcing the person to end the conversation less gently (or put up with an unwelcome conversation to be polite), is pushy and discourteous. This does not appear to be anything like the custom in NYC or Boston, but I don't think that invalidates it. It's not always obvious when people are using subtly different communications protocols, especially for signaling stuff like courtesy and urgency around the edges of primary meaning.

[identity profile] marykaykare.livejournal.com 2005-03-31 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
Well, if it was the only thing I was wanting to discuss right then it would. But that doesn't seem to apply to the situation as you describe it. People are weird?

MKK