Random memory: I mean this in the nicest possible way

[pne]

Over on the entry on the ‘xkcd-rss’ syndicated account for the comic 919 (entry will go ‘poof’ in two weeks), there are lots of comments on people’s various pet peeves.

One of them is a thread on “(I’m not racist/I’m not telling you how to live your life/…), but…”.

And while thinking about “No offence, but…” (almost invariably preceding something offensive), I thought about something a long time ago.

Someone said to me after I did something, “I mean this in the nicest possible way, but that was really inappropriate.”

And I appreciated being called on it (I hadn’t realised it was inappropriate) and I appreciated the way that person phrased it; I felt they were doing me a kindness by putting it like that.