nmqt ,

-Loncapa quote: "Kinematics with Calculus"-

The most interesting dream I had this week would probably have been the one where I was back in Earth Science class and the assignment was dressing up as 3 different dinosaurs.

I think I may have found one of the few instances where greater accuracy is more tactful. Specifically, I'm talking about those awkward moments when you say something that was intended to be witty, but phrase it just a little bit wrong. This, of course, leads immediately to the response, "What the heek, man? That was so mean!"

Now, there are two cases, from the point of view of the person who just corrected your social faux pas.

Case 1: The statement is actually false -- the person had no spiteful intentions. Now, they feel shocked and horrible about themselves, because your statement came out of the blue for them.

Case 2: The statement is true. They really were intending to hurt the other party, and are glad you emphasized this point.

Simple common sense tells us that case 1 is true much, much more often. And even if case 2 is correct, do we really want to be encouraging mean-spiritedness by acknowledging it, just as the person wants?

I propose that we switch from the possibly incorrect statement "That was mean" (and other statements of that sort), to "That sounded mean." This gives case 1 people a way out, and makes case 2 people's intentions only that much more obvious when they do not take it.

Reality check.  Also, we've had yet more snow here. I still haven't tired of it.