Skip to main content

A word for when somebody deflects from a conversation?



I'm looking for a word to fill in this blank.



"I'm certain of it: the square root of 225 is 25," said Peter. But when Mary pulled out her phone and used the calculator app to find that it was in fact 15, Peter recoiled. In a quick ___, he redirected, adding, "But you know, this reminds me of a funny story involving Euler..."



The word I'm looking for would mean a deflection from a conversational faux pas by redirecting the conversation. It could describe making an excuse for one's flub, but not necessarily. I've thought of some related verbs like redirect, deflect, rebound, recover, and so on, but I'm looking for a noun, and one that pertains particularly to talking. Tangent (as in, "going off on a tangent") is relevant, though that doesn't have the connotation of recovering for a mistake.


I really feel like at some point, the French must have invented a word for this, and then we stole it. Alternatively, a word for a deflection from a generally uncomfortable conversation would also work.



Answer



You could say that



In a quick side step, he redirected [the conversation].



Also often spelled sidestep.



A motion, physical or metaphorical, to avoid or dodge something.



This describes a physical dodging motion to the side rather than forward, but it can also be used as a metaphorical action to avoid a topic in a conversation.


The verb form is sidestep.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more