Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

I like to know the meaning of "talking past each other in many cases with Secretary Rumsfeld." below.


JIM LEHRER: Do you agree that, first of all, the relationship is awful, and that it would improve with Bob Gates?

DOV ZAKHEIM: It will certainly improve. Is it awful? I don't know. I mean, after all, there are a lot of senior people in the military who get on with him.

But I think, by and large, military folks did not understand how to relate to him. His style is just so different from the kind of civilian they're used to that many of them just didn't know how, and many of them got demoralized. Rightly or wrongly, that's the reality: They were demoralized.

And one could tell, as soon as the Gates appointment was announced, just a different behavior. I mean, I spoke to loads and loads of military people, and they all felt like, "Well, here's a way that we have a chance now to relate." It just was something -- chalk and cheese, if you will, just talking past each other in many cases with Secretary Rumsfeld.
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Hiromichi

[myprofe]

Talking past one another is a when each person talks but neither of them listens. There is no discussion and no intention to understand the other person's point of view.
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I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes!

[hiromichi]

myprofe, I get it. Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi