I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But.......

I Don’t Mean to Be Rude, But…………

Help Me Understand Communication


Hmmmm. What do you think when someone comes up to you and says, “I don’t mean to be rude, but……….”

What they really mean is, “I’m gonna be really rude to this guy, but I don’t want to take credit for being rude…..Maybe if I say I really don’t mean it, the dummy will believe me!”

Or another of my favorites is, “I don’t mean to be picky, but………..” Well….you can fill in the rest of the statement. When you hear it, you know that there will be some serious nit-picking in your future.

Maybe you’ve heard, “I don’t mean to be nosey, but…………..” Wow. You can just imagine what kind of statement or question will follow that line.

You see, day after day people want to be rude, picky, nosey, etc., etc., but they want to get credit for being not-rude, not-picky, and not-nosey. It’s really amazing. Wouldn’t it be refreshing for someone to say, “Look, I mean to be rude to you, and here’s what I have to say….?” That would be awesome! Or someone saying, “Look, I’m really picky and I want to impose my high standards and attention to detail on you….Is that all right?” Or maybe they could say, “hey, give me some private details of your life because I’m really nosey and I just want something to tell everybody later on.”

Honesty. Could we stand it? But really, how many of us truly believe the person that starts with “I don’t mean to be…..?” My guess is there ain’t that many of us that will let a rude person be rude and then give that person credit for not really wanting to be rude to us. So if none of us really believe the line, why do we use it over and over? Why not just be honest and claim our rudeness, pickiness, and noseyness (is that a word?)?

Oh well, I don’t mean to cut this conversation short…..but….

Dishonestly Yours,

Blawgerman