Aug 20, 2017 17:56
6 yrs ago
3 viewers *
English term

poignant subtext

English Social Sciences Psychology
'Interrupting: A surefire way to completely belittle someone, this is often a tell-tale sign of passive-aggressive
bullying, as there is a very poignant and loaded subtext here. When a person is interrupted often by the same person orgroup of people, it is a very pointed way of saying that their opinion isn’t worth listening to and, by extension, that it didn’t matter in the first place.' (Luke Jackson 'Sex, drugs and Asperger Syndrome')

Does it mean something like 'cutting' here? What would be a good synonym for this word in this context? The author enumerates here a few examples of passive agression and interrupting someone during a conversation is one of them.

Responses

+2
3 hrs
Selected

painfully sharp undertone

"poignant" means "painfully sharp to the emotions or senses" (to quote the Concise Oxford Dictionary). It is usually used to describe something that evokes feelings of sadness or sorrow, but I think that here the writer is using more as a virtual synonym for the "pointed" in the next sentence, since that second sentence simply elaborates on the "poignant and loaded subtext" in the first one.
Peer comment(s):

agree writeaway
10 hrs
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : "pointed"(=sharp) refers to the interrruption itself ("it"). What that interruption does is belittle/bully the victim, (the actual subtext) which, of course, is distressing/disturbing.
1 day 16 hrs
agree acetran
17 days
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
9 mins

distressing/disturbing undertone/significance/connotation

there are quite a few way of saying this but really the undertone is troublesome, or disturbing in some way
Peer comment(s):

agree Jack Doughty
1 hr
Many thanks:-)
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+1
4 hrs

cutting / biting/ pointed implicit message

To take "subtext" first, I think it more specific than an undertone; it's an implicit message. Interrupting someone is a way of saying to them "what you have to say is not worth listening to", without actually saying it.

"Poignant" is tricky, because it most often means evoking feelings of sadness or regret (the only meaning given in some dictionaries), but it clearly doesn't mean that here. Nor, in my opinion, is the meaning precisely distressing or painful, though that's debatable, and the effect of being interrupted, with its subtext, can no doubt have that effect. I think it means sharp and pointed, the meaning it has in "poignant wit" or "poignant satire" or "poignant criticism", which reflects its etymology (from pungere, 'prick, pierce'). So I think your own suggestion of "cutting" is actually as close as you can get. In other words, I think it refers to the nature of this kind of passive aggression from the perspective of the perpetrator, rather than the victim.

"Something that is poignant "pierces" the heart, senses, or emotions. You will see poignant used three different ways: Something that is emotionally touching or painfully sad can be described as poignant, like a poignant scene in a movie; secondly, it can mean biting, acute, sharp, or piercing, like a poignant critique or a person's poignant wit; finally, it can be used to describe something that sharply affects the senses, like a poignant odor or poignant beauty."
http://vocabulary-vocabulary.com/dictionary/poignant.php
Peer comment(s):

neutral Yvonne Gallagher : Of course subtext can be message but I think significance/connotation covers that already. "pointed" refers to the interruption but the subtext is about belittling the victim so I believe it is distressing and disturbing
1 day 15 hrs
Fair enough. I interpret it differently, that't all :-)
agree acetran
17 days
Thanks, acetran :)
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