poignant subtext

English translation: painfully sharp undertone

17:56 Aug 20, 2017
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Psychology
English term or phrase: poignant subtext
'Interrupting: A surefire way to completely belittle someone, this is often a tell-tale sign of passive-aggressive
bullying, as there is a very poignant and loaded subtext here. When a person is interrupted often by the same person orgroup of people, it is a very pointed way of saying that their opinion isn’t worth listening to and, by extension, that it didn’t matter in the first place.' (Luke Jackson 'Sex, drugs and Asperger Syndrome')

Does it mean something like 'cutting' here? What would be a good synonym for this word in this context? The author enumerates here a few examples of passive agression and interrupting someone during a conversation is one of them.
rzezucha
Selected answer:painfully sharp undertone
Explanation:
"poignant" means "painfully sharp to the emotions or senses" (to quote the Concise Oxford Dictionary). It is usually used to describe something that evokes feelings of sadness or sorrow, but I think that here the writer is using more as a virtual synonym for the "pointed" in the next sentence, since that second sentence simply elaborates on the "poignant and loaded subtext" in the first one.
Selected response from:

Armorel Young
Local time: 21:10
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +1distressing/disturbing undertone/significance/connotation
Yvonne Gallagher
3 +2painfully sharp undertone
Armorel Young
4 +1cutting / biting/ pointed implicit message
Charles Davis


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
distressing/disturbing undertone/significance/connotation


Explanation:
there are quite a few way of saying this but really the undertone is troublesome, or disturbing in some way

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 21:10
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 61

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
1 hr
  -> Many thanks:-)
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
painfully sharp undertone


Explanation:
"poignant" means "painfully sharp to the emotions or senses" (to quote the Concise Oxford Dictionary). It is usually used to describe something that evokes feelings of sadness or sorrow, but I think that here the writer is using more as a virtual synonym for the "pointed" in the next sentence, since that second sentence simply elaborates on the "poignant and loaded subtext" in the first one.

Armorel Young
Local time: 21:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway
10 hrs

neutral  Yvonne Gallagher: "pointed"(=sharp) refers to the interrruption itself ("it"). What that interruption does is belittle/bully the victim, (the actual subtext) which, of course, is distressing/disturbing.
1 day 16 hrs

agree  acetran
17 days
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
cutting / biting/ pointed implicit message


Explanation:
To take "subtext" first, I think it more specific than an undertone; it's an implicit message. Interrupting someone is a way of saying to them "what you have to say is not worth listening to", without actually saying it.

"Poignant" is tricky, because it most often means evoking feelings of sadness or regret (the only meaning given in some dictionaries), but it clearly doesn't mean that here. Nor, in my opinion, is the meaning precisely distressing or painful, though that's debatable, and the effect of being interrupted, with its subtext, can no doubt have that effect. I think it means sharp and pointed, the meaning it has in "poignant wit" or "poignant satire" or "poignant criticism", which reflects its etymology (from pungere, 'prick, pierce'). So I think your own suggestion of "cutting" is actually as close as you can get. In other words, I think it refers to the nature of this kind of passive aggression from the perspective of the perpetrator, rather than the victim.

"Something that is poignant "pierces" the heart, senses, or emotions. You will see poignant used three different ways: Something that is emotionally touching or painfully sad can be described as poignant, like a poignant scene in a movie; secondly, it can mean biting, acute, sharp, or piercing, like a poignant critique or a person's poignant wit; finally, it can be used to describe something that sharply affects the senses, like a poignant odor or poignant beauty."
http://vocabulary-vocabulary.com/dictionary/poignant.php

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 22:10
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Yvonne Gallagher: Of course subtext can be message but I think significance/connotation covers that already. "pointed" refers to the interruption but the subtext is about belittling the victim so I believe it is distressing and disturbing
1 day 15 hrs
  -> Fair enough. I interpret it differently, that't all :-)

agree  acetran
17 days
  -> Thanks, acetran :)
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