Mitigated speech is communication that is deferential or indirect. I learned about it in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers. Gladwell defines mitigation as “any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what is being said.”
It’s important to understand direct vs. mitigated speech because problems may result (1) if you don’t understand how others are communicating with you and/or (2) if you are not communicating clearly yourself. Extreme example: plane crashes. [Read more…] about Why It’s Important to Understand Direct vs. Mitigated Speech