On politeness, that very British proclivity...
The respondents used terms such as these an average of 14 times a day. The roster of so-called "politeisms" in the research is "a treasure trove of British evasion.
"No rush, when you get a chance," used by 39% of the population says: "Get on with it, I've been waiting an unreasonably long time already."
And my particular favourite is "With all due respect…" which means "your opinion is invalid, and here's why." (Actually I think people KNOW this term is really an insult).
And, "Not to worry", is really a relaxed way of saying: "This is a catastrophe, but I'll tell you it's okay."
Why do we do this? "....
Wouldn't we simply be happier just telling each other what we really mean, and omitting all the misunderstanding and time-wasting?
But giving up on the courteous rebuff would be a travesty, it's is an ancient and respectable British tradition: the poll found that some phrases go all the way back to Chaucer!
And at the end of the day these politisms maybe do make our life easier because they are just less acerbic than the naked truth!
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Considering people have been much more angry after pandemic, we should be more polite to each other right :)
It doesn't cost anything after all!
Maybe it’s that polite way of expressing frustration or saying no that makes the interaction flow more smoothly.
Well there is that!
Love it! So true so true. A happy turn of phrase or phrases.
I am glad I left the workplace in 2017, it was just about changing for the worse, with all this woke nonsense, that has become an industry in itself. I worked in an industry, a man's industry where a spade was called a spade, where if a sentence did not include the word FUCK you were seen as not normal, I love it when a woman swears!
I would have been , as would most of us, been subject to complaints to personnel. But no one cared being straight and abrupt was normal and it worked.
I recall once having a face to face with the head of personnel, who wanted to imprint into my brain that
"Stephen, it is not personnel any longer, we are known as Human Resources, or HR, please work with us"
"and you can fuck off too, I am not a resource, nor a commodity and your dept is personnel"
Thankfully I only answered to one of the senior directors, who laughed his cock off when I updated him, but that was between him and me. Openly he had to...."play the fucking game" LOL
I cld NEVER in a gazillion years imagine someone as sensitive as you being subject to a complaint!