On Sat, Mar 03, 2007 at 05:20:58PM -0800, Ray Saintonge wrote:
andrew.cady at gmail.com wrote:
Besides their relative rudeness as rebukes, there is a substantial difference between the *meaning* of the two phrases. "Don't be a dick" is a far more broad concept, and makes greater reference to motives and meaning; "civility" is more about style and form.
Quite the contrary. If you're telling someone to not be a dick that presumes that he was being one in the first place.
Hmm. That is not contrary to what I said.
For example, a dismissive, one-line response to a carefully considered five paragraph argument is a "dick move" even if perfectly civil.
Not always.
Of course, not always. It seems like a good example to me, though. There are, in any case, others.
Sometimes it just keeps the heat from being cranked up.
Perhaps. In the majority of cases, it should be expected to have the opposite effect.