...to think that if you have argued against someone about something and then they're proven you categorically wrong...

[SpeedyGonzalez]

...it is far more dignified to admit you're wrong than:

(a) to go silent or change the subject;
(b) to keep on arguing so as to appear consistent?

I see this countless times on MN and in RL and it always makes me rofl! A friend who normally defaults to option (b) (huge ego, bless) was once in this position and willingly made the BIGGEST climb-down I have ever seen. I was because he's the last person I'd ever think would admit he was wrong, but it left me with so much more respect for him than I'd had until then.

Definitely. The art of elegant apology should be on the national curriculum. It used to be part of my job, doing the apology emails when someone had cocked up with a customer.

My DP just develops instant amnesia and pretends he doesn't remember the conversation. Drives me batty.

Oh - my DP does this. He also does the step further, as in:

Me: Yes, you're right, I see that now.

DP: So anyway, the reason I'm right-

Me: Love, I already said you're right. I'm wrong. Sorry.

DP: But you don't really see why you're wrong, let me explain it to you -

ARGH!

You are right.

If someone proves me wrong, I quite like apologising and admitting thsat they are right, becuse they are usually so shocked and pleased by my apology that they are nicer to me afterwards

People respect you if you admit you are wrong.

YANBU.

I hate it when they change tack and think you won't notice.

-The sky is pink
-No it's not
-It is
-No, it's not, it's blue
-It's pink
-Look outside, it's blue.
-You haven't put the lid on the bin
-The sky's blue though, isn't it?
-That's not the point, look at the bin. How could you forget?

ad infinitum

I always apologise and go all self-deprecating if I am wrong

it tends to get you brownie points, too

I think people who can't ever admit they are wrong and laugh at themselves are emotionally stunted

Probably. But of course I'm never wrong.

Yes - you are completely right. I am with you. I have very little respect for people who talk rubbish and continue to talk rubbish despite the evidence. Some people just like to argue. oooh it gets me so wound up and I have no idea why. Does anyone have an answer for this?

Pride would be my best guess Ali. My dd will argue black is white but when presented with the evidence will continue to argue her point. I've asked her why she does this when she knows she's wrong. Her answer was she would be embarrassed to say she was wrong.

Yes, it drives me nuts when people refuse to back down or admit they're in the wrong. I had a boss who used to do this. She was great in every other way, but this trait really let her down. I always used to wonder why she couldn't realise that a quick 'oh sorry, mea culpa, I got that wrong' drew far less attention to an error that digging her heels in and dragging things out.
Also see this a lot of what Tethersend described on here. If someone's proved wrong on one point, they start bringing in all kinds of new and irrelevant points as if this, somehow, puts them in the right.

I concur

Littlereddragon, had to laugh at conversation with your dp. He will say he is wrong and say sorry, even though he thinks he is right and isnt sorry! drive me nuts.

dp - Yeah whatever, you are right and i am wrong as usually (being sarky) im sorry.

me - Why are saying that you think im right, if you dont think i am.

dp - I said you are right and i am sorry what more do you want me to say.

me - ok

dp - I still do see why you cant see my point of view.

dont not do.

I went for dinner at one of dh's colleague's homes the other night...we got into a bit of a debate...he was losing, so he whipped out his laptop and pulled up Wikipedia...at the dinner table (I know, knob!)...only to be proved wrong. Absolutely would not admit he was. I (rather drunk), gave him a demonstration of how to graciously admit you mistakes. He's still adamant he's right one week later! He's only 22 and got a lot to learn! Bless!

oooh, i once worked with someone who was like that, and would even just pronounce how right she was, and walk off, or just try to make you appear very stupid by making out you didn't understand what she had actually meant, so it was your fault.

e.g. the time she claimed that pizza was healthy (this from the school diner, thick gooey bread base, huge amounts of fake cheese, puddles of fat sitting on the top). when everyone told her it wasn't she went on to say that it was healthy for her because she was in management, so she had to walk round more, so obviously she was right as we should all have understood that she meant it was healthy only for her, not for the rest of us. Then she walked off.

I think the general course of action on being proved wrong is to say everyone's bullying you, and that you're going to report them all and hide the thread? No?

If it's a simple yes/no thing like 'Did you leave the car on the drive or on the road?' and I get it wrong, then I'm fully prepared to climb down. But if it's something subjective like is there a God, is xyz wrong then I pretty much never give in. But then the other person isn't really proving that I'm wrong.

Or that they don't understand your post. Then when one person out of 145 responses agrees with you 'well thanks. It's so nice that one person gets what I meant'.

i hate to be wrong, so it's actually mortally embarrassing for me to be in the position where i have to admit i'm wrong.

but for me, it's not the admitting i'm wrong that's the problem, it's the being wrong in the first place that's torture!

and

(disclaimer: problem is, it happens to me so often i should really be used to it by now...)

Oh, I had this in RL recently. Played Backgammon with a friend and she spent the entire game trying to move her pieces the wrong way and insisting I'd set the board up wrong. I showed her the instructions repeatedly but she was adamant it was wrong. I even showed her a Backgammon game on the DS which was set up identically to the way I'd set up the board but she remains adamant that I, the DS and the instructions are all wrong.

Actually, what was wrong was that she was playing black and she normally plays white but she refused to accept that either!

Often on here though it's simply a question of people holding different viewpoints- each of which is right for them, iyswim. I find it really annoying that people can't just accept that but BANG ON constantly until you need to go and lie down or something.

I'm with Brahms, there's wrong as in "Oh, I thought the light was green" and then there's a differing of opinion. You might think my opinion is wrong, but your ranting at me is not going to change my opinion so I'll remove myself... doesn't mean I'm running away or too haughty to accept you're right. Just means I think you're an annoying twat who's wrong!

Bitoffun nails it.

LittleRedDragon that is my dh totally

if i am wrong, i do make out that i am the oaf to end all oafs. unless it is when taking to dh, in which case i am always right. always

My dh neatly avoids ever being in the wrong by rearranging reality to suit him

Dh: I think the new fridge should go in the garage.
Me: I think it would be better in the kitchen.
Dh: NO, definitely the garage! The garage is the place for a new fridge. I am sure of it.
Me: [puts fridge in kitchen] Do you see how handy it is to have the chilled food in the kitchen, near where we cook?
Dh: Yes, it was a good idea of mine to put it in the kitchen wasn't it?!

AliGryls: "Does anyone have an answer for this?" Yes, I believe I have the definitive answer: They're pillocks.

claw3 - ooooh, your dp and his sarcasm! I HATE that kind of sarcasm, it's basically aggression disguised with a bucketload of defensiveness and it drives me up the wall. So bloody childish. (guess whose dh does the same? )