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English: what is said & meant | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 9 of 15 16 December 2011 at 10:53am | IP Logged | ||
Exactly -- this has been circulating in chain emails for a while, and it is normally: What the manager says | What the manager means | What the employee understands. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5560 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 10 of 15 16 December 2011 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I almost agree with everyone else too, most of them have a range of meanings, but it's certainly worth noting that they can mean the opposite of what is being said. For everyday usage, the only one most people will come into contact with is "not bad" is better, maybe much better, than "quite good"
I hear what you say: Stop talking and just listen to me With the greatest respect: I am getting a bit annoyed with you for disagreeing with me. That's not bad: That's pretty good, better than expected That's a very brave proposal: probably a rejection, but acknowledging that you're coming up with some interesting ideas. Quite good: This is about the lowest level of positive response you could give. Probably something better was hoped for. Definitely worse than "not bad". I would suggest: Do it (but context/tone dependent) Oh, by the way: Not necessarily the most important point, but definitely still important, and maybe very important. I was a bit disappointed: I was more than a bit disappointed Very interesting: Probably means "very interesting" on its own. If it was used to mean "not very interesting" it would be obvious from the haughty/offhand tone/attitude and would probably be quite rude. I'll bear it in mind: probably "I've forgotten already" (but context/tone dependent) I'm sure it's my fault: AFAIK this would only be used in the sense "I'm sure it's my fault that I don't understnd what you're saying" and is simply a meaningless polite formula. [as opposed to actually taking the blame for something concrete] Could we consider other options: instead of your suggestion, not as well as, unless it's all we've got. I amost agree, you must come for dinner, I only have a few minor comments: Anything context/tone dependent Edited by schoenewaelder on 16 December 2011 at 4:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4959 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 11 of 15 17 December 2011 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd say it is more humorous than true myself, at least for a few of them. As it lists
something that we say, then says it actually means the opposite to what we said. Although it can be true for some things, I think it gives the worst possible scenario for what has been said for example "I almost agree" wouldn't always mean "I don't agree at all" - but it could be depending on the context and could just be a way of letting the person down in a 'nicer' manner. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5565 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 12 of 15 18 December 2011 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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In real life (TM) I reviewed a book for an academic journal and I said in the review something like 'Dr xxxx's work is the bravest thesis to come out of the xxxx school of thought and academics will be find its conclusions very challenging for years to come'. This was meant as a compliment, but I got an email from the author as soon as the work was published berating me for writing such a sly and underhand review.
So the moral - never call something brave. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4959 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 13 of 15 18 December 2011 at 11:48pm | IP Logged | ||
It's quite crazy how some people often see a word such as "brave" as an ambiguous one. I actually find it rather annoying myself. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4865 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 15 19 December 2011 at 6:55am | IP Logged | ||
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The more interesting version, which I saw in print in the days long before the Internet, provided translations for both men and woman giving "what she said" and "what she actually meant" and on the other side of the sheet, "what he said" and "what he actually meant."
The worst thing a student of English as a second language could do would be to take this seriously. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| birthdaysuit Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4817 days ago 48 posts - 101 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Swedish | Message 15 of 15 20 December 2011 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Haha, polite lies, that's what they really are when you get down to it. But as others
have said, you shouldn't read too much into them. I expect any comment could be treated this way if we wanted to. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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