Re: I don't believe you vs I don't trust you, help plz
- From: Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net>
- Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:32:59 +0000
On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 04:58:45 GMT, Tony Cooper
<tony_cooper213@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>On 30 Oct 2005 18:30:58 -0800, VijaKhara@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
>>Dear members:
>>
>>I am getting confused to distinguish "I don't believe you" and I don't
>>trust you" in AMerican English. A friend of mine tells me that I should
>>use " I don't belive you" since it is more polite and it means that I
>>don't belive him just in this situation while " I don't trust you"
>>implies that I don't believe him since he is a liar.
>>
>>Plz confirm this for me. because I oftern hear Americans say " I don't
>>trust you" and it seems more popular.
>>
>Neither of your statements is polite. "I don't believe you" means
>that you think the person is lying in a specific statement, and "I
>don't trust you" means you believe the person will lie about anything.
I agree, but what is and isn't polite can be tricky. You can say "I
don't believe you" in some situations in a way that the listener will
understand to be I don't believe you on this particular point. No
problemo.
>If you don't want to insult someone, but you don't feel what they are
>saying is true, then say "I don't think that statement is true". In
>other words, challenge the statement itself but not the veracity of
>the speaker.
Is Donna's memorable "Wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong" challenging a
statement or insulting the person who made it? It could be taken
either way, but I'd think the former in most cases.
Similarly, when I say to you, as I often find it necessary to do,
"Dead wrong, Coop", I'm not insulting you, I'm only questioning the
accuracy of one of your statements.
--
Charles Riggs
.
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