Alex Barnett blog

Ha.  Here's a few more:

X: "I'm confused"

Me: "It's okay, I'll walk you through it slowly.  Pants first, then shoes."

X: "I'm confused"

Me: "We all are.  You have Katherine Harris to thank for that."

X: "I'm confused"

Me: "See, the little turtle goes forward 50, right 90, forward 25...  There you go!"

I could not disagree with you more. In the search for knowledge, I sometimes become confused. If done with sincerity, admitting confusion in the hopes of obtaining clarification is smart. The only dumb question, is the question unasked.

Rich, I disagree with you in that I think we could disagree more. We agree that I can be sometimes confused too. I agree that asking for clarification is a smart thing to do. What I'm trying to get at here though is *the way* the clarification is asked for and the context in which this phrase used.

Seriously?  You'd really respond so snidely to someone genuinely asking for clarification?

I mean, it seems like context and non-verbal cues would differentiate between those who mean the phrase in the way you describe it (and there are many of those, I agree) and those who use it to describe, well, a state of confusion?  

I'm one of the latter, for what it's worth; sometimes prefacing my request for real clarification with the phrase "I'm confused" is the single best way of describing my mental state.  You're saying *I* shouldn't use that phrase because someone in *your* past has misused it?  Wow.

Cori and Rich (and anyone else that happens to be reading),

I realise my post omits a key bit of information regarding the use of the phrase. Another chap (Curtis) also commented on this post here: http://www2.millarian.com:8037/2007/02/11/confusion/

You guys are right. People do get confused from time to time and to say so is, of course, not a 'bad' thing to do.

What I didn't explain in my post is the point made by you: that if one is sincere, then there is nothing wrong at all with explaining that one is confused...

But...that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about when the phrase is used when someone isn't actually confused but they are saying it in substitution for "I disagree", or "I think you are wrong". You can hear this in the tone and gather it from context.

Example: If you are arguing different point of view to mine, and you make a point and then I came back with "I'm confused", then I'd say that is not what I meant. What I might have meant is: "I can't think of an argument against the point you just made, so I'll buy my self some thinking time and force you to explain yourself again by telling you "I'm confused", and in the meantime try to make you look dumb". Which is very different to using the phase sincerely.

Hope this helps clarify what I meant :-)