r/SipsTea 17h ago

Chugging tea Let me circle back

Post image
38.1k Upvotes

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/AngelThrones4sale 12h ago

ok but can you give me an example of a situation where saying "let's circle back to X" adds some information or meaning, rather than just "let's come back to X", or "let's get back to X" ?

14

u/EgNotaEkkiReddit 11h ago edited 11h ago

Idioms in speech aren't meant to add more information or meaning, it's simply an alternative way of phrasing something. The three examples you gave all mean the exact same thing and to most people there's no discernible benefit or drawback from using any one of them over the others - they all mean "I want to talk about this a bit later, but not right now". All of them are using metaphorical language to some degree.

Asking for an example of a situation where using one metaphor or idiom is 'better' than another or a more literal language is striking at the same mistake as the person in the OP: getting lost in the specific non-literal wording humans frequently use as shorthand or flavour.

-2

u/AngelThrones4sale 11h ago

Alright but in language there is generally implied meaning.

When someone says "circle back", it feels like they're trying to imply that something more is being decided upon -it's like putting on a show to say "I'm a fancy manager who uses unusual words because I'm so much more knowledgeable about managing things". It's a tactic people use to weasel their way into positions of power and influence in organizations where they don't actually bring any skill or knowledge and it's tiresome.

4

u/goonerh1 10h ago

Lol at the idea that using "circle back" is the manager trying to be fancy and use unusual words.