Theos-Talk Archives (December 2002 Message tt00608)

Hi Louis,

This suggestion was originally inspired by a couple of posts from 
Wry, in which he told Terrie and me "you need to..." Not thinking 
there was much hope for getting him/her to change his/her spots, I 
didn't bother commenting. But since the same construction now 
reappears from you:

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, teos9@a... wrote:
> Mauri,
> 
> You need to take a year or so off from all of you wondering, 
speculating, parenthesizing and just concentrate and focus on the 
intent and meaning of those three objects. 

I will comment that this "you need to..." contruction is IMO rude and 
invasive. "I advise you to..." or "I think you ought to..." or "You 
might well consider..." conveys the same substance without also 
conveying the obnoxious implications. Which are "I know better than 
you what you need to do" and "you need to be told what to do." Even 
if that's what the speaker/writer *believes* about himself in 
relation to the person he's trying to influence, it's not very 
productive to convey it so blatantly.

Cheers,

Paul