Opposite speech

January 26, 2013 11:12 AM

Trying to find a reference about a type of conversation where what ever you say the other person will have an opposing statement, not because they disagree but because they say something "anti" in every case. "Confrontational conversation" maybe??
posted by Freedomboy to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

Devil's advocate?
posted by cooker girl at 11:14 AM on January 26, 2013

Contrarianism? Caviling?
posted by Rhaomi at 11:20 AM on January 26, 2013

Contrarian?
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:21 AM on January 26, 2013

yep, contrarian
posted by greta simone at 11:33 AM on January 26, 2013

Response by poster: Close but seem to remember a certain term for it. Not a situation where they other person disagrees but more where they have to knock down or reduce the impact of your statement i.e.

"We should go it is a quarter to 5" "

"No, more like 4:48"
posted by Freedomboy at 11:37 AM on January 26, 2013

Deborah Tannen had a book in 1998 called The Argument Culture [NYT] perhaps that?

Hm, but I suspect you may mean Gretchen Rubin's term oppositional conversation style.
posted by dhartung at 12:02 PM on January 26, 2013

One upmanship.
posted by Specklet at 12:04 PM on January 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

The definitive treatise
posted by rhizome at 12:23 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Mismatching?
posted by Wordwoman at 12:28 PM on January 26, 2013

I think in communications studies this is referred to as disconfirmation or disconfirming communication.
posted by honeyx at 2:05 PM on January 26, 2013

Argumentative.
posted by scratch at 5:30 PM on January 26, 2013

i know this technique as the Brother-in Law™. It's marked by "Well, not really," "well, yes and no" and "Actually, what really happened was..." All three instances are grounds for anthrax poisoning.
posted by BostonTerrier at 6:47 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Gainsaying.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:01 PM on January 27, 2013

Monty Python's Argument Clinic sketch seems relevant here.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:22 AM on January 28, 2013