I had a professor in graduate school that was really proud of his ability to diplomatically insult someone. You know the type of comment. For example, everyone knows the guy who tends to get on your nerves, provide utterly useless input or is just a generally disliked person. But, you wouldn't want to trash talk someone at work either to their face or behind their back. You never really know if that trash talk will get back to them. And heaven forbid you trash talk your boss and it get back to him.
So what do you do? You say something like, "Oh yes, he's an interesting person," or perhaps, "He's very unique." Those are socially acceptable ways to neither degrade nor compliment someone and remain, for the most part, neutral. Of course you know that the context implied to interesting or unique is comparatively applied to the freak show at a traveling carnival. But that's okay! As long as you didn't say something like, "Oh yeah Bob, he's a real jerk-off!" you'll be alright.
Today I became the unwilling recipient of unwanted information so mundane and positively boring that it immediately crossed my mind to blurt out, "You should blog that!" Of course I didn't. But I should have. I think it's much more subtle than the, "Well I'll sleep better tonight knowing that," or, "That's more information than I needed," responses that are often accompanied by laughter. You want people guessing. Is he serious? Is he joking? Is he making fun of me? So from now on I think that's how I'll respond when someone tells me something I would otherwise ignore completely. I'll tell them, "You should blog that!"
Of course the secret is to use it sparingly. Use it like a master chef uses his secret spice to make each recipe a savory delight. Do you have a better or favorite one? Leave it in the comments . . .
So what do you do? You say something like, "Oh yes, he's an interesting person," or perhaps, "He's very unique." Those are socially acceptable ways to neither degrade nor compliment someone and remain, for the most part, neutral. Of course you know that the context implied to interesting or unique is comparatively applied to the freak show at a traveling carnival. But that's okay! As long as you didn't say something like, "Oh yeah Bob, he's a real jerk-off!" you'll be alright.
Today I became the unwilling recipient of unwanted information so mundane and positively boring that it immediately crossed my mind to blurt out, "You should blog that!" Of course I didn't. But I should have. I think it's much more subtle than the, "Well I'll sleep better tonight knowing that," or, "That's more information than I needed," responses that are often accompanied by laughter. You want people guessing. Is he serious? Is he joking? Is he making fun of me? So from now on I think that's how I'll respond when someone tells me something I would otherwise ignore completely. I'll tell them, "You should blog that!"
Of course the secret is to use it sparingly. Use it like a master chef uses his secret spice to make each recipe a savory delight. Do you have a better or favorite one? Leave it in the comments . . .
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