and very dependent on the situation as well as the relationship between the participants in the discussion. Something my daughter tosses off that she sees as only being snarky, can well flick me on the raw as being thoroughly disrespectful, even though I might blow it off completely if it were something she said to a friend. Good-natured sniping between playmates becomes something very different when it's directed towards the person who puts a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Also, slang among friends can become rudeness across generational boundaries. For example, my daughter likes to describe things she finds as neat or nifty as "tight." When and where I grew up, if someone was "tight," they were too stoned to stand. And, to my dad's ear, it means someone needs to loosen their belt.
On the other end of things, well-intentioned constructive criticism can often be heard as sarcasm or denigration.
It really depends, a lot, on who's saying what to whom, and in what situations. |
