hurtloam wrote:
I say that when someone doesn't understand my instructions to help them feel better. I don't want them to feel stupid because the thing usually isn't that big a deal. It's how I introduce the idea that I'm now going to explain what I said in a different way in the hopes that they will understand.
It's not a lie. It's a preface to your next words.
Yes, come to think of it, I've said that to others too - it's a face-saving gesture that's handy to keep in our social toolbox, giving people the benefit of the doubt and going on the supposition that YOU didn't phrase something in the most understandable way.
Of course, this response depends on whom your interlocutor is. If it's your boss, or some higher-up manager, or heck even a colleague in most cases, you gotta... but in other cases, like a pushy/obnoxious salesman - like random mall or door-to-door sales or software salesmen at work, I've had to get more curt with them. I don't tend to use that line, I will go so far as to say "What part of what I said is ambiguous??" (rhetorical, and indignant) - because those obnoxious salesmen will use selective hearing and filter out any part of the dialogue that doesn't support their pre-conceived notion of closing a sale. It's similar to the manipulative personality type that Fnord described.
02 Nov 2021, 7:13 am
