While working as a tutor, I have the pleasure of meeting a very diverse spectrum of children. Some are very bright, and some have learning disabilities. The fascinating thing I have discovered is ways that these children can trick me, the tutor, by using my own adult social conditioning against me.
While trying to help a rather scatterbrained child who had ADD, the child repeatedly would dismiss me by saying, “phew. Your breath smells!”. :eek: I found this terribly embarassing- I tended to talk near the child, so he could hear me over all the other noise in the center, which meant I was within breath-sniffing range. I wasn’t aware my breath smelled bad, but the concept made me feel terribly embarassed so I talked to him a bit farther away, which made it that much easier for him to ignore me :mad: . Not long after, my shift was done and I met up with my best friend. The first thing I asked him was, “does my breath smell?!” and my friend, who is brutally honest, assured me that no, my breath does not smell. That LIAR! That kid told me my breath smelled, and used that to blow me off!
But soon the anger of getting tricked melted, and some gears started turning in my head. What that kid did was very intelligent for him, after all, it helped him get me off his back. What if I could apply that tactic myself? Hmmm :dubious:
So my question is, do you think it would be possibly to blow people off by wrinkling your nose and saying, “Phew, your breath smells!” right in the middle of their conversation? Because I think this would be quite effective against someone who was self-concious about the way they smelled…but just the same now that I think about it I can’t help wonder what exactly most people’s reaction would be
It sounds like a good diversion/attack for use in conversation. Similarly you caould tell someone they have BO, or something between their teeth. Or like the diversionary ‘you sure turn red when you are angry’. Good on the kid for using one so well (naughty blighter). The only problem is that it is rude for an adult to point out such a thing to someone they don’t know well, so you would come off as rude if you used it. If it was used against me I would either stop the conversation there and then, or if the conversation was in my best interests say “I know, I had pickled garlic for lunch” and carry on without changing my position or distance.
First you’d have to identify the person as self-conscious about that sort of thing. That sounds like a potentially invasive/personal list of questions just to determine as much.
Oh, I know it is terribly rude, but a big part of it is the bluntness in which it is presented. If directed at someone who was very consiencious about the way they smelled, for example, they might suddenly become very embarassed at the thought that you have been bombarded by their stench up until now. If you were a clean freak and someone up-front told you your breath/body odor reeked, wouldn’t you have a moment of panic? Ultimately it is merely a diversion, since even those with self-doubt will see through the fascade easily enough…then again you might be able to give someone a complex by doing this enough
Not really. Plenty of people are embarassed about having bad breath. Same thing with having BO. Now if someone actually reeks, this doesn’t carry as much weight, since they are often very obvious about it anyway and blindsiding them with a comment won’t faze them. But someone that doesn’t reek of BO/halitosis would probably be pretty durn embarassed if they were unwittingly stinking up the place. You don’t have to give the person the third degree to find out they’re embarassed about it
and my friend, who is brutally honest, assured me that no, my breath does not smell. That LIAR! That kid told me my breath smelled, and used that to blow me off!