I have this thing where I need to whang on you with a tire iron.

[substitute]

There should be a word for this phenomenon, and perhaps there is.

I am making a complicated point, telling a joke, or relating a story that illustrates some new idea. It's hard to get across, and after I make my point or tell my story, the other person doesn't seem to get it. Finally, my conversational partner brightens up and fully comprehends the big idea. Then, he or she informs me happily of the complicated point or the reason for hilarity or the moral of the story, in a thoughtful but triumphant way. Clearly I hadn't thought this quite through, but my story does lead to an interesting spot, had I only seen it!

It makes me want to kill people, with a shovel.

Comments

[gths.livejournal.com]

It's really odd in a work situation, when you mention an idea to a cow orker, they don't get it at first, so you explain it to them a little more slowly, they still don't get it.

Then a little while later the penny will drop and they'll suddenly figure it out and think they came up with the idea all by themselves, usually coming back to you and going "hey I've got this great idea! Wanna hear it?".

I guess it happens to most people, in both roles, at various times, though.