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28.10.2020, 11:15
|  | Member | | Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Location, Location, Location
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| | | diverting question
Hello all,
I am looking for the scientific term for the following examples.
Let's say one goes to a Clients Service and says: i want to make a complaint against this product/service/employee. And during the conversation the Client Service Employee, out of nowhere, asks: "but you like the logo of our company?" breaking one's argumentation.
Or another example, you talk to your boss about a very important work-related issue which is very annoying situation for the boss. Out of nowhere, the boss says:"i really don't like spicy food,i have eaten some of it yesterday and i got stomach burns"
How is this diverting technique called?
Thank you
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28.10.2020, 11:24
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Basel
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| | | Re: diverting question
In English, this would normally be called a 'diversion tactic'.
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28.10.2020, 13:56
|  | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: thun
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| | | Re: diverting question
Maybe it could also be:
"failing to directly address the issue."
"bringing irrelevant facts into the discussion."
It could be just the examples you gave, but the intent does not appear to divert the discussion into another area and is, anyway, quickly countered by "that's irrelevant" during the conversation.
I guess the context of this is (or could be) that you are formulating a complaint.
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28.10.2020, 14:18
| | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Basel
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| | | Re: diverting question
Digression?
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28.10.2020, 14:26
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Zurich area
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| | | Re: diverting question
German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer made 1831 a nice list: The Art of Being Right: 38 Ways to Win an Argument
See No. 18 : mutatio controversiae http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/erist18.htm
and No. 29 : diversion http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/erist29.htm
The list by Schopenhauer should be a basic reference but don't let this distract you from the fact that just 167 years later in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer's table.
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28.10.2020, 14:28
|  | modified, reprogrammed and doctored˛ | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: La Cote
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| | | Re: diverting question
It could also be that the customer service employee is trying to reach out to you on a personal level (asking you for an opinion on something) hoping to put you in a more positive mindset about them or out of some guilt, if they really messed up. I wouldn't respond I think, except some vague "maybe".
Last edited by MusicChick; 28.10.2020 at 15:32.
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28.10.2020, 14:36
| | modified, reprogrammed and doctored˛ | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: La Cote
Posts: 16,281
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| | | Re: diverting question
| Quote: | |  | | | | | | | | Schopenhauer was special.  His Metaphysics of Love is a grim read.
Last edited by MusicChick; 28.10.2020 at 15:14.
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28.10.2020, 15:44
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Rapperswil
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| | | Re: diverting question
My native English description would be "bloody annoying" 
Or given the obvious nature of the diversion, possibly "nice try".
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28.10.2020, 15:49
| | modified, reprogrammed and doctored˛ | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: La Cote
Posts: 16,281
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| | | Re: diverting question
Distraction bs happens in all languages..
Kids are already experts in it.
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28.10.2020, 18:09
| | Forum Veteran | | Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Up there over the fog
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| | | Re: diverting question
You should ask Johnson and all his cronies- they are true specialists. Only thing they all seem to have any talent for.
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28.10.2020, 18:47
|  | Forum Legend | | Join Date: May 2008 Location: From one side of lake Zurich to the other...
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| | | Re: diverting question
could be also called 'changing the subject'....
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