Do you offend people unintentionally?

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I like to tell the truth and that often offends people that don't want to hear it. Some people prefer believing a lie than knowing the truth.

I believe the truth, Zendell. Trouble is you don't tell it - and worse you don't even realise it.

Maybe if offense is taken where none is intended, it's to do with those darned mirror neurons, on the other person's part.
I think those mirror neurons are just another excuse for projecting.

Yes I do, but people are never honest enough to tell me. They just quit 'being freindly'. I'm always at a disadvantage in social settings.

I'm very careful, think things over, try to pick the right moment to insert my comment, and still end up causing an awkward silence. People think I'm being an a-hole, but that isn't it at all. Sometimes brutal honesty makes a sneak attack.

You're wiser than most (or perhaps you yourself) will ever realize.

I learned to shut up when I was younger. Unfortunately I found out the hard way that being labeled 'quiet' isn't much better.

I offend through being overly honest and blunt not infrequently; I can be inadvertently insensitive. My problem is not only that, but often that I do not realize that I have given offense, or the possibility that I might have does not occur to me until I replay the conversation in my head later.

There have also been times where I've learned that I've offended someone, but am entirely unable to figure out how I gave offense.

For my own part, I really wish people would more overtly let me know if I've offended them, rather than going away and stewing on it. But most humans seem to be trained otherwise.

Generally speaking, if someone gets all offended over something when I meant no offense, I will try to explain the offense away. If someone insists upon remaining offended, I mark that as their problem, not mine. I say in complete sincerity that I find people who are easily offended offensive. I have been known to whip out with, "You thought I gave offense? Let me demonstrate what I'm like when I'm trying to be offensive."

Sounds like you're being repressed, princess_1989!

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=o76WQzVJ434[/youtube]Good fortune,

- Icarus didn't know we had a king either...

And many people will think that's offensive too--like you're too good to talk to them or something.

I offend people both intentionally and unintentionally. The only difference is that is bothers me when I don't mean to, then I become overly apologetic.

Same here....

happened to me all the time when I was younger.. I've made a habit of apologizing for almost everything personal I say, just to be sure..

That pretty much sums it up for me. I talk very little, which some people take the wrong way and get offended, and when I do talk half the time I end up regretting it because I end up offending or hurting the people who are close to me.

my mom is always pulling this kindof behaviors and soon i will not have to deal with it

YES, all the time! Seriously, that makes me mental.

BJ

Yes , But less as I get older.

I see the problem as similar to cross-cultural communication. You can learn what people will or wont accept from books, seminars, people who have been there, etc. Or you can just blunder in and learn by trial and error, if someone doesn't kill you early on. Problem is we are taught that the NT cultures are our cultures so we don't realize how out of place we are or how much we have to learn if we want to fit in.

There are some great postings on this thread; I've learned a lot by reading them.