To wonder how you would respond to this question?

[Sconesandgravy]

This is a bit of a daft one! DH asked me to explain something more slowly. I slowed my speech down because I'm naturally a fast speaker. DH stopped me and said he clearly meant "break the instructions into smaller chunks of information".

I think they're two different questions, but DH is adamant that anyone I ask will agree with him. So I'm asking Mumsnet.

How would you respond to someone saying "Can you explain that more slowly please?"

YABU - Your DH is right, it's requesting someone breaks the instructions down into smaller pieces of information

YANBU - You are right, it's requesting someone speak at a slower pace while explaining

I would take him literally and slow my speech down.

Explain more slowly means break down the steps.
Speak more slowly means…speak more slowly.
To speak more slowly when you’ve been asked to explain more slowly is horribly condescending.

You would come across as rude and condescending.

I would explain it in smaller steps and spend more time checking for understanding at each step before moving on. I would be very unlikely to think that it meant speak slower, unless the person asking me was not a native English speaker.

He's asking you to 'mansplain' it to him! Go for it, these opportunities don't arise very often! 😀

Why? If you’ve spoken fast and someone asks you to speak more slowly, it’s not rude to then speak more slowly (as long as it’s not at a piss take speed)

That's fair. I'm a naturally fast speaker so I took it literally, because DH sometimes asks me to slow down when I'm talking in general. So I didn't speak condescendingly slowly, just at the speed I would normally slow down to when he asks!

Also whenever anyone has previously asked me to break a question down they've said "please can you break that down more".

I'll keep your comment in mind and ask for clarification if someone asks me again!

I think some people don't know what 'slowly' means on this thread. It means 'at a slow speed/less quickly'. That's literally what the word means.

So... "Could you explain that more slowly please" - suggests to me that my explanation - delivered through the medium of speech - needs to be slower.

I also have a tendency to talk very quickly, and I have an accent, so it's not too much of a leap to think that is what someone requires me to do. It's not remotely patronising or rude to slow your speech to aid comprehension and is perfectly possible to do without appearing condescending or rude.

"Could you explain that more clearly"
"Could you explain that in more detail"
"Could you break that down for me"

All of the above would lead me to think that someone wants the information supplied in a more straightforward manner.

'Slowly' in no universe, means 'bite sized/small steps' or anything remotely similar.

But they haven’t asked you to speak more slowly, they’ve asked you to explain more slowly. To me that means slow the explanation down eg spend more time on each step of the explanation by breaking it down further.

I would do both. Slow down by speech and also break it into smaller steps.

I'd probably do a bit of both, not speak patronisingly slowly, just reduce the pace and paraphrase what I was explaining.

I find people who gabble and join their words up quite frustrating, it's like what's the rush?!

I would slow down my speech.

Your husband made an ambiguous statement. It could be interpreted either way, as the replies to this thread show. The most literal way to interpret it is as you did.

Tell him to phrase himself less ambiguously next time. If he wanted you to break it into steps he could have simply asked for that.

If I’m already explaining but I’m explaining too quickly then I’ll adjust my speed of speech and explain more slowly.

if he wants it explained in a different way, he should say.

No it doesn't, in no way does slowly mean break something down. Slowly means at less speed.

If you want something broken down say you want it broken down or don't be surprised when someone who knows what the word slowly means talks more slowly

'Slowly' in no universe, means 'bite sized/small steps' or anything remotely similar.

Well, it can, actually. When I bought my current house we unpacked slowly. That means bit by bit, not literally in slow motion. When I switched careers I learned my new business slowly, by watching, listening, and trying things out. That doesn't mean I literally walked around the office in slow motion.

"Less quickly" can, in quite a few universes, mean "with more steps."

I would think he meant to speak more slowly. I too tend to speak too quickly at times so would naturally assume that's what I was doing. If someone wanted me to explain it more clearly then I'd imagine they'd say just that. But different strokes for different folks!

He needed to explain his question more carefully and precisely

In that situation it meant less quickly - i.e. you didn't do it at a quick pace, you did it more slowly. Nothing to do with what steps you took to unpack.

I would probably say something like: ‘I’m sorry you’re too thick to understand basic instructions of how to do something you should already know how to do, having to explain it to you more than once is adding to my mental load and I’m starting to feel a bit like I want to poke you in the eye, have you considered Google?’

I don’t think your examples bolster your point. You didn’t do those things with more steps, you just didn’t do them quickly. Not in slow motion, but you did them with less overall speed.

I speak quickly too, so I'd do both. But only slow my speach to that if must people. Not super slow.

I'd probably both slow down and try and condense it into kind of bullet points.

Like, 'ok so firstly you have to fill in questionnaire 5B.
Then wait for them to send you a passcode.
Then, once you get that you can log back in.
Then start the first part of the training'

Unless the person didn't have English as a first language I'd assume it could be a combination of the two things.

Not following... (can you speak slower 😉)

If I learned my business slowly that means I took more steps? I shadowed more people, I learned by trial and error, I read more books, yada yada. If I unpacked slowly that means I did it in more individual steps as opposed to one large step?

Regardless I don't think the condescension re. nobody on this thread understanding what the word slowly means was necessary or useful (or indeed true) - that's my point, really, regardless of how I chose to unpack! 😁

I was an English teacher for over 30 years. I know what the word slowly means. The key word in this sentence is ‘explain’. To explain more slowly you slow down the explanation - ie explain the steps better. To get someone to slow down your speech you would say, ‘Could you say that more slowly?’ or, ‘Could you slow down your speech?’

If your condescending tone here is anything to go by though, nobody will ask you to explain anything.