Irritating ways to begin sentences online

[dreamer_easy]

Oh, there are so many ways to get off on the wrong foot! These are just a few:

Pompous: I note that... / I notice that... / I find it disappointing that you... / I find it fascinating...

Sarcastic: I like how... / I love how... / Right, because...

Patently untrue: I'm sorry, but...

ETA:

Unhelpfully inarticulate: Wow. ...

Comments

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

My favourite is 'wow'. Expresses disdain without actually being verbal enough to express it. Feels a bit unfair but also a cop-out.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! Adding that one to the list!

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Really? I say "wow" when I'm astonished, not when I'm disdainful.

It's the age-old problem: Tone is hard to judge on the net, and perfectly innocent "utterances" can be completely misread by someone who starts off with the wrong assumption about your tone... I remember a particularly distressing conversation on usenet about a decade ago: The young lady and I had to agree to just drop the subject and move on, after she'd blown her top at "all the sarcasm here", and my apology and declaration that no sarcasm was intended just seemed to inflame things further. Eventually I realised that what she'd read as escalating sarcasm on my part was actually my increasingly careful politeness, caused by my perception that she seemed to be getting progressively more upset about something that I couldn't fathom...

Of course, it doesn't help that sometimes I *am* sarcastic in a way that I intend as humourous (but which might read as serious by someone not on my wavelength) and/or don't even conscioulsy register as sarcasm, or that I'm also sometimes (though rarely) *heavily* sarcastic with actual intent! =:o\

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

"Wow.

Just...

Wow."

That kind of snotty, meaningless "wow", not the "holy flaming cow" variety! :D

That's a brilliant story about the dangers of sarcasm btw.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

And here's its relative: "Um..."

(I sometimes start off with "Erm...", but usually when I'm just plain confused!)