What would you make if this?

[Anon2323]

My friend has just started seeing a guy and she has was talking about him to a friend who’s good friend of hers was in a previous relationship with him quite a long time ago. The response she got was short ‘he wasn’t physically abusive to me. Would that mean she didn’t want to say more but was mentally abusive? Or not read anything into it. She is reading a lot into that.

Depends on the context really. Could mean he was mentally abusive, or maybe she was comparing him to other men who had been physically abusive?

What she is reading into this that she is saying he was everything bar physically abusive but it isn’t something she wants to talk about

Maybe it means he wasn't physically abusive to her, but has been with subsequent partners?

Either "he wasn't physically abusive to me" - meaning he was abusive in other ways

Or "he wasn't physically abusive to me" - meaning he has been to other people

Is how I would have taken it.

It doesn't sound good, does it?