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missdaredevil
Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 1670 Location: Ask me
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 8:03 pm Post subject: talked down |
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I'm tire of being *talked down*.
*discouraged*?
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pugachevV
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2295
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:31 am Post subject: |
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to talk down to someone means to talk to someone as if you are better than they are, cleverer than they are, or more important than they are.
i.e. to talk patronizingly, or talk condescendingly |
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saywhat?
Joined: 11 Apr 2005 Posts: 11 Location: Way out there
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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pugachevV wrote: |
to talk down to someone means to talk to someone as if you are better than they are, cleverer than they are, or more important than they are.
i.e. to talk patronizingly, or talk condescendingly |
This is correct, but is slighlty different to I'm tire of being *talked down*.
This could mean that you often have an opinion or an objection, etc. and that people (or a particular person) gets you to change your mind, or more specifically to "back down". That is not necessarily change your mind, but to give in.
E.G. I was really angry with my boss and I was going to quit, but he talked me down. (I didn't quit - the boss might have been very kind in the way he spoke.)
In a much more specific way, to talk down could refer to someone who was going to jump off a building (or some other high place) and someone managed to persuade them to come down.
"The man was going to jump off the tall building, but his friend talked him down." (This is very specific to the incident.)
These could be regional variations. |
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