7 ms·
She likely is referring to the tone of speech, not a tone as in note or frequency.
by burgerbrain 15y ago
She likely is referring to the tone of speech, not a tone as in note or frequency.
- pbhjpbhj 15y agoI've never heard "tone deaf" used in this way; hence the question. Is it a common USA use? Burgeoning or erstwhile?
- Natsu 15y agoI don't know that it's common in the USA, but it seems to be well understood in these parts at least. It's used to describe anyone unable to accurately gauge the mood of the people they're addressing and who thereby offends them with their remarks.
- RebeccaLovell 15y agoHi there...thanks for the clarifying! Language is incredibly loaded and we're all guilty. I absolutely intended that the presenter was not attuned to the impact of his speech. Here's more on that thread. http://www.danshapiro.com/blog/2012/02/startup-dudes-cut-sexist-crap/#comment-434748427 http://www.danshapiro.com/blog/2012/02/startup-dudes-cut-sex...
- pbhjpbhj 15y agoWe're peoples divided by a common language, as they say. Thanks for clarifying.
- mturmon 15y ago"tone deaf" is common, but it is being replaced by "clueless" over the last 10-20 years: http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=tone+deaf%2Cclueless&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3 http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=tone+deaf%2Cclu... burgeoning, is, compared to erstwhile: http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=erstwhile%2Cburgeoning&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3 http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=erstwhile%2Cbur... erstwhile replaced quondam in about 1910: http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=erstwhile%2Cquondam&year_start=1800&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3 http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=erstwhile%2Cquo...