Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > No smart remarks please this is important

No smart remarks please this is important
Thread Tools
Monique
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: back home
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 10:53 AM
 
I was wondering if someone tells you the following because you do not know something :

"It is incredible a second grader would be able to do it, it is so easy"

Then the person would tell you:

"I thought you were coming from far" (sorry it was in French but I think I got the translations correctly).

Would that be insulting to you?
     
Kerrigan
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Apr 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 10:57 AM
 
This is clearly some weird idiomatic expression, because it does not come off as insulting in English.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: The Rock
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 11:15 AM
 
Well looks like I've found my go-to insult for the next few months....
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
     
Chongo
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 11:19 AM
 
"It is incredible a second grader would be able to do it, it is so easy"
That's the same as saying:
45/47
     
mattyb
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Standing on the shoulders of giants
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 12:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by Monique View Post
I was wondering if someone tells you the following because you do not know something :

"It is incredible a second grader would be able to do it, it is so easy"

Then the person would tell you:

"I thought you were coming from far" (sorry it was in French but I think I got the translations correctly).

Would that be insulting to you?
Post what was said in French Monique. Sometimes me (an Englishman who lives in France) and my wife (a French woman) translate things differently to and from English and French.
     
Chongo
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 04:09 PM
 
babel fish English to French (babel fish reverse translation are not even close to what was originally translated)
Il est incroyable une deuxième niveleuse pourrait le faire, il est si facile
45/47
     
Kerrigan
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Apr 2005
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 04:17 PM
 
Why is this "important?"
     
Monique  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: back home
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 08:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by mattyb View Post
Post what was said in French Monique. Sometimes me (an Englishman who lives in France) and my wife (a French woman) translate things differently to and from English and French.
Je ne suis pas tellement bonne en math et il y avait une formule que je n'étais pas capable de faire. À la place de m'aider la personne m'a dit c'est abhérant un enfant de 2e année serait capable de faire ça; tu viens de loin.
     
Monique  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: back home
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 08:10 PM
 
Originally Posted by Kerrigan View Post
Why is this "important?"

Because the person who told me that is a supervisor.
     
The Godfather
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Tampa, Florida
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 29, 2011, 09:16 PM
 
<snarky comments deleted>

But I am interested also in the factual aspect of the expression's meaning and the attitude that it conveys.
     
Monique  (op)
Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: back home
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 30, 2011, 01:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by The Godfather View Post
<snarky comments deleted>

But I am interested also in the factual aspect of the expression's meaning and the attitude that it conveys.
Let's see you are an accountant and there is a new form, that you have difficulties understanding you ask for help; instead of helping you your supervisor tells you that you are no better than a second grader because you do not understand it.

Is this an insult on your intelligence?
     
Waragainstsleep
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 30, 2011, 02:00 PM
 
This is one of those ones thats more about how its said than what it means. If someone says it with a smile on their face and then proceeds to explain how the new form should be used (from your accountancy example) then it might be intended to put you at ease in case you were over thinking the complexity of the form. If this response was made in a dismissive fashion with no attempt to help you solve your problem of not understanding the form, then I would say its inappropriate and frankly unprofessional and yes, it would also be considered an insult under such circumstances.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
mattyb
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Standing on the shoulders of giants
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 30, 2011, 02:01 PM
 
Originally Posted by Monique View Post
Je ne suis pas tellement bonne en math et il y avait une formule que je n'étais pas capable de faire. À la place de m'aider la personne m'a dit c'est abhérant un enfant de 2e année serait capable de faire ça; tu viens de loin.
Bon, si c'est ton chef tu ne peux rien dire. Dit lui que c'est juste parce que c'est quelque chose de nouveau. Il faut s'habituer.
     
iMOTOR
Mac Elite
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: San Diego
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 30, 2011, 02:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by Monique View Post

No smart remarks please this is important
Okay, I’ll only give dumb remarks then.
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Oct 31, 2011, 07:07 AM
 
A supervisor who assumes that someone should understand something new as being trivially obvious, and then berates that person for not seeing the new thing as obvious is not qualified to be a supervisor. He/she is also a bad human being. This is an example of a particular kind of fallacy (I forget the formal name for it), but it reasons out to "if I think it's simple and someone else doesn't, then I'm much smarter than they are." Which is patently false on its face, and illustrates a level of egoism that is above and beyond self confidence.

An approach that can defuse this problem is to say "I will need to explain the details of this form to others (because I need to get their data, because I need them to complete it too, because it isn't my form and I'm just the messenger, etc.), so having detailed instructions will save time that you, as a supervisor, are paying for." If that fails, go to the supervisor's boss and explain that your work is being hampered by your supervisor giving you new work without training you, and belittling you in the process. Eventually someone above the jerk your supervisor will see that this is counterproductive and do something to correct it. It may take a while for the correction to be made, and it is not guaranteed to be painless for you. Sorry.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Tiresias
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: South Korea
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 1, 2011, 11:21 AM
 
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Nov 2, 2011, 07:13 AM
 
Originally Posted by Tiresias View Post
Somewhat similar, but in this sort of thing the erroneous assumption comes from the assumer's ego bias. They honestly think "if it was something I could understand, everyone should be able to understand it," and they tend to ignore the time and effort their understanding required. There is also a potential element of the assumer reflecting on what they perceive as the other person's aptitude and intelligence (one manifestation of this is the professor/doctor "talking down" to people in technical issues because they underestimate the other person's intelligence).

I may be a bit biased in this subject because of my experience as an instructor and teacher, but I was successful in that endeavor by NOT assuming either high or low levels of intelligence/aptitude/interest. I had to build the subject matter from foundations of basic concepts to eventually ensure that the student both understood and could explain major facets of the subject (always quite technical stuff in electronics). So whether I thought a student was barely above moron level or I thought he/she was a genius, I always presented the material exactly the same way. As a clinician, I explain health issues similarly, always being careful to establish a baseline level of understanding from which to begin my points. It works because I never assume. I think of it as practiced intellectual humility (having seen a few very bright people completely humiliate themselves by underestimating someone else's intelligence and experience, I vowed to not let that happen to me!).

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:37 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,