Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The difference between arguing and discussing things over

I love to discuss things over. Oh my god, somebody talks about a subject I am interested in I jump right into it. Some people think that I like to argue and somehow that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don't know why but to me arguing is more like yelling at each other.

However, what is the difference between discussing things over and to argue? I looked both words up and they are pretty much the same. So in which context do you use them?
I usually use "to discuss" when I am debating something and arguing when I get to the point where the debate turns more into "Yelling."

Somebody please explain it to me :)


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also ich kenn arguing als aktives streiten und discussing natürlich als diskutieren. Für manche Menschen ist der Unterschied nur manchmal verschwindend gering, da sie ich sage mal sehr sehr lebhaft diskutieren, dabei Sachen persönlich nehmen und daraus natürlich dann der Streit wird...
Also meine Auffassung entspricht deiner :)

Anonymous said...

Arguing is like "heated debate". Discussing something is like a "friend to friend conversation" (on equal ground). A Debate is when you don't agree with each other. Most people, if they don't agree with each other, turn that debate into a heated argument because they're frustrated, etc. I was in debate class all through high school and college, so I am physically tired of debating very much, so I try to avoid it, or quickly say, "Let's agree to disagree." Sometimes its a waste of your breath to get involved in a conversation, so I tend to pick mine wisely before I open my mouth. If the person shows some form of humility somewhere in the conversation then you know that they will let you talk and put your two cents in. If they sound as if they are 100% stuck and determined in their thoughts on the matter, then I would walk away and dont get involved.

Some people see things differently and will NEVER be convinced otherwise.

Diana said...

Ich kann es schlecht erklaeren, eigentlich ueberhaupt nicht aber bei mir ist es so wie bei dir :)

Sandra said...

@Bettina: Yep, ich denke die meisten Leute definieren es so wie ich es mache. Auch wenn es vielleicht nicht unbedingt richtig ist LOL.

@Vesper: I wished we had a debate Club in school but oh well maybe it's better that we didn't have one. We had some guys that used their fists if you didn't agree with them LOL.

I like a good debate but a lot of people just don't know how to debate anymore. Not that I am perfect. I am far from perfect when it comes up in debating and I guess sometimes I am stuck too but when I see that I am wrong I have no problem to admit that and to change my opinion.

Like my opinion on republicans. I was diehard and blindly supported everything in the name of freedom. But it's not that easy and when I finally opened my eyes and looked the whole situation from a different perspective I was like "Oh my god, I was so wrong" and changed my opinion.

The only thing I don't like to discuss is American politics with Germans. Never ever start a debate with Germans about that topic. I learned the hard way. LOL

Sandra said...

@Diana: yep, ich kann es auch nicht erklären. Es ist einfach so. Vielleicht weil ärgern und argue eine gewisse Aehnlichkeit miteinander haben?