Etiquette question -

[Mme. Defarge]

At a dinner party of 4, how appropriate is it to start talking about a subject like quantum theory, that one or two of the guests know little about. It left me with the impression that the person who brought it up was trying to impress the other person with knowledge of it, perhaps at the expense of those left out of the conversation.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. After dinner brandy-and-cigars?

[Mme. Defarge]

2. During the meal.

[True Dough]

3. Was this in English or French?

If the speakers were Anglais, could you have countered with your linguistic skills? And when they said, "Sorry, we don't understand French," you could have replied, "About as much as I understand about quantum theory."

If that didn't apply on this occasion, I have nothing witty to add. But I do think it's less than thoughtful to carry on a conversation that one or more members of a dinner party is incapable of following, at least for more than a few minutes.

[Mme. Defarge]

4. Great advice!

Will keep it in mind for future reference. And thank you for validating my take on it.

Merci,
Mme. D.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. A Subject I Would Never Bring Up

If someone else did, I'd be happy to expound on it, but it feels weird to bring up a subject where there's a 10,000 to 1 chance others could participate.

[Mme. Defarge]

6. I'm sure it was meant to impress

my dinner companion.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Highly Likely

I had a guy being up femtochemistry at a party.
He knew practically nothing about chemistry but he must have read an article about it.
Trying to find something about chemistry I didn't know? Except, that I knew a guy from New Nexico Tech that was doing femtochemistry on detonating reactions so I knew something about it from an expert. Didn't go well for the guy who ran out of "facts" in a hurry.

[Mme. Defarge]

9. Formidable

mon cher professeur!

[anciano]

8. "how appropriate is it?"....

very inappropriate.

[Mme. Defarge]

10. Merci!

[odins folly]

11. I always thought people who bring up things like that were

A bit full of themselves. I also feel it’s best to counter with the most absurd thing that pops into your head…

I was considering quantum theory, until I found there was more money and personal fulfillment in porn…..

But, that’s just me.

[Mme. Defarge]

12. Ah, mockery -

that’s the ticket! 😎

[wnylib]

13. Inconsiderate, unless they were willing and able

to translate the general gist into everyday language for the other guests.

I dated an English lit grad student years ago. He had a friend who was a physics major. There are topics in physics that interest me but I do not have the math and science background to read up on them. Sometimes I asked the physics major questions about physics concepts and developments and he was good at communicating concepts in language that I could follow.

However, my English lit grad student boyfriend was bored with physics even though he could understand the way it was being explained.

It worked out OK when the 4 of us were together. The physics major's girlfriend was an English major, so she discussed literature with my boyfriend while I discussed physics with her boyfriend.

One topic we all were interested in and agreed on was politics. This was the Watergate hearings era. Eventually we all turned to discussing it.

The physics major was not trying to impress anyone with his knowledge. He only answered my questions, very patiently. Our dates were not inconvenienced since they had a topic to share.

But the setting you describe sounds inconsiderate, especially since it was done to impress people.

[Mme. Defarge]

14. Wanting to impress someone

was my take on it.