Showing posts with label Höflichkeit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Höflichkeit. Show all posts

Monday, November 30, 2009

A matter of etiquette

A question, of some urgency, has occurred to me here in the 'Humanities 2' reading room at the British Library.

Clearly, were one of my neighbours to begin a loud and lengthy conversation with someone sitting next to her, I would be well within my rights--being in a library--to ask her to be quiet.

I mean: that's obvious.

But what if she's merely bothering me, with increasing urgency, as a result of what we might call her...'excessively intense'... 'aggressive'--I would even go so far to say 'abusive'--style of typing?

There's no real way of addressing this situation without looking like a bit of an ass, is there?