Joining a chat room where you can solve your doubts about foreign languages I read a question from an American native speaker. She needs to know clearly the difference between implicit and indirect. (in English)
She got some answers but it is still not clear. Is it really difficult to get or this girl is an exception?
I am just curious, I know that my question has zero importance
Since this is about how hard the words are to understand, which is an opinion, let’s move this to IMHO from GQ. Title edited to better indicate subject.
The words actually don’t have a lot of direct denotative difference. The difference between the two words’ meanings is, ermm, implicit, more than it is indirect.
I would start with “to imply” and describe it as an art: how to say something in a way that is unmistakeably clear to the recipient but do so in such a way that you have plausible deniability. You did say it indirectly, but not every indirect way of saying something is as pernicious, as sneaky, as using the art of implication. Give examples.
A person who is not, themselves, aware of what their unhealthy relationship with their uncle is like may tell you so indirectly. Their aunt, who is very much aware of the unhealthy situation, may make clear statements in front of him that imply the situation, and then look back at uncle innocently if he dares to challenge what she said, because, after all, what did she say?
Does it need to be pointed out that “indirect” can be roughly synonymous with “implicit,” but it has other meanings that are not? For example, you can take an indirect route from one location to another, but you would never call that an implicit route.
I thought I’d done so:
I don’t think “imply” or “implicit” automatically, um, imply sneakiness or pernicious intent; although they might in some contexts. I think they can also indicate an unspoken, or even unconscious, connection.
If you say ‘of course everybody puts the cat out at night’*, implicit in that statement is the assumption that of course everybody has a cat who’s inside at least part of the daytime.
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*don’t do that around here. Coyotes out there. But it’s an example that came to my mind.
Hmm, that’s a good point. OK, I’ll have to think on this further, how to differentiate implicit from indirect.
I don’t think people often refer to implicit speech. What is “implicit” in a particular set of words is usually some features of the situation - most often people’s assumptions (“implicit assumptions” is definitely a phrase that rolls off the tongue)
“Indirect”, on the other hand, refers to the way the utterance itself is constructed. You use indirect speech to convey implicit meanings.
So for instance, one from my childhood: “Would you like to do the washing up after tea?”
Indirect speech - the direct form would be “Please do the washing up”
Implicit assumptions - the hearer is aware that washing up is among the things that they legitimately ought to help out with, the speaker has the authority to give instructions to the hearer