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

How do you slow down unpacking? By doing it a bit at a time.
I get the analogy.

Sorry but I think he’s right. If he’d meant what you thought, he would have just said "Could you speak more slowly".

Depends on context.

If I’m in a setting where I might be perceived as speaking quickly like a job interview, or when talking to someone who doesn’t speak English well, I might take it to mean I need to say the same thing more slowly.

If I’m talking to someone I usually speak to (ie they are used to my normal pace of speaking, we generally understand each other), I’d assume they mean they don’t understand so I could shift my wording to be clearer as opposed to the pace of speech

I would consider those doing the standard things with less speed, not more steps.

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)

Was this meant for me? As that was my only comment prior to this and I didn’t say anything like that!

No, not meant for you! I meant the first PP I was responding to.

Ah, good. I was a bit worried I’d come across wrong!

It’s an interesting thread. It’s funny how something 100% means something in one’s head and it never occurs to you that it might mean something totally different to others. This is one of those things that I’d have assumed we were all on the same page about!

I think either interpretation is fine. I often ask people to slow down and I mean to explain with more steps, details and background but also to leave a bit of a gap between concepts so I have got some time to take it.

Anyway I think it's fine the way he worded it and it's fine how you interpreted it. If he meant it in a different way he should have just explained that.

Exactly. Definitely open to interpretation!

This doesn’t sound right to me. Explain more slowly doesn’t even sound like a sentence. Maybe it’s a known phrase I haven’t heard of?

I would assume that he wanted you to break it down into less complex chunks. However I am not a fast speaker. I guess a lot would depend on the tone he used. If the tone sounded slightly puzzled it would mean make it less complex. Slightly annoyed then maybe speaking too fast.

I didn't expect the results to be so mixed! I do wonder if it's a regional thing. I've never heard anyone say "can you explain more slowly" before, whereas DH said it's something he heard quite often where he's from 🤷🏽‍♀️

if someone asked me to speak more slowly, I’d speak more slowly.
if they mean ‘explain that in more detail/in a different way/with more information about each step’ then bloody ask for that.

I wish people would say what they mean.

You unpacked slowly because you took more time to do it. Over days rather than all at once. That’s why it’s slowly.

"If I unpacked slowly that means I did it in more individual steps as opposed to one large step?"
Well, not really - you were still unpacking the exact same things either way, which requires the same number of 'steps'. You were just spacing those steps out, or: doing them more slowly.

OP, I would also take 'explain more slowly' to literally mean 'slow down your speech', especially if I was prone to talking quickly. I would assume the person wanted me to speak at a more measured pace, with pauses, so that they had more time to process what I was saying in between points/bursts of information.

I would expect someone to ask for more detail if that was what they wanted. And of course, the benefit of literally slowing down (and adding pauses after each piece of information) is that a person can then have space to say, 'I don't quite get that last step - can you elaborate on it?'

I'm confused by the number of people who think 'slowly' means, 'with additional detail'! I've never encountered that before.

I'd have done the same as you OP.

More slowly means more slowly. If he'd just said "can you explain that?" I might've understood it to mean he wanted it broken down, but as a fast talker if someone says "slow" I assume I'm talking too quick and slow down.

You’ve never heard anyone say ‘Could you explain that more slowly’?
It’s not a known phrase, it’s just words in a sentence. And it’s what the OP’s husband said and therefore what we are talking about.

She had explained it. He needed it again, more slowly. And because it was the explanation he asked to be slower, nit the speech, I’d interpret it as wanting each step explained in more detail, or more steps to be added to clarify.

Yes. So each step of the explanation one at a time, not the whole thing together.

I'm with DH - I would try and break it down into simpler to understand parts, and check he understood each one before moving on.

But then I'm not a fast talker, so it wouldn't occur to me that is what he was talking about.

I said how I'd interpret it, you've said how you'd interpret it. It's almost as if it's ambiguous and open to interpretation.

… are you okay?

Me too. But then again I have ASD and if he said slowly... then thats what he;s getting...

Fine thanks. What about my perfectly normal post made you think otherwise?

Yes, clearly. The OP asks how we would interpret it. I’ve explained how I would, and why it seems the most logical interpretation, that’s all.

I might have made the same mistake with someone I didn't know if I was aware I spoke quite quickly but you know your husband so why would you slow your speech as if he's having problems with hearing or language. In the context you describe it very obviously means break things down a bit more.