ext_121700 ([identity profile] onewayfreak.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] deelaundry 2010-01-14 07:20 pm (UTC)

and asking about clarification of intention and wording isn't necessarily combative.

I agree! I agree completely, I really, really do.

This was what [livejournal.com profile] queenzulu said originally:

Do you think the male nurse House spoke to was straight? Why or why not?

Or, in other words, why does queerness have to be interrogated when straightness doesn't?



To me, that sounds a lot like implying that Dee was interrogating (obviously a negative thing), and not very much like asking for clarification. The words "what do you mean by that?" or "what makes you ask?" might have been more appropriate, if that was what she honestly wanted to know. The implication wasn't malicious, but it was a little negative. It definitely wasn't a simple question for clarification.

I don't think semantics are pointless, I think arguing about them is, especially since it is, in almost all situations, more civil and less time consuming to simply ask for a rewording.

I apologize if my thoughts sound scattered right now, I'm sitting on a bus and typing this on my phone.

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