(no subject)

[redbird]

"I don't want to discuss this topic now" does not mean "Go away, I don't want to talk to you."

Comments

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/tact.html) might be relevant...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

oooh. That's brilliant, that is. Though I would still add that different parts of the country have different local norms for the strength of their tact filters, and don't necessarily recognize that their standards aren't universal. Thus you get Southerners who believe that everyone in Boston is Very Rude, f'rinstance.