She said: “I was wondering if it would be possible to perhaps make a request that members of departments think about their communication to councillors a little bit better. "
This is also peak Britishness. The amount of hedging in that sentence. It’s so indirect it almost misses.
From the other side of the pond, I find this tendency for understatement impressive. If anything, it gives one more headroom for expression. If understatement is “normal”, and direct statements are a kind of exaggeration, then overstatement must be a whole other tier we don’t even have in the US: we have to say that part louder, instead.
Edit: I also read that sentence as: “I’m putting you on notice with ample room to save face, but ignoring my generosity is going to come off as very rude.”
This is also peak Britishness. The amount of hedging in that sentence. It’s so indirect it almost misses.
“Wondering”, “possible”, “perhaps”, “request”, “think about”, “little bit”.
From the other side of the pond, I find this tendency for understatement impressive. If anything, it gives one more headroom for expression. If understatement is “normal”, and direct statements are a kind of exaggeration, then overstatement must be a whole other tier we don’t even have in the US: we have to say that part louder, instead.
Edit: I also read that sentence as: “I’m putting you on notice with ample room to save face, but ignoring my generosity is going to come off as very rude.”