clumsy, unskillful, awkward

V

vost

Senior Member
France
France, Français
Which one of these adjectives would you use to describe the way someone explain something to someone else, not using the best words/way of doing it?
 
    • Something like I didn't want to hurt you. This was only my clumsy/unskillful/awkward way/attempt to told you you didn't take the shortest road.
     
    vost said:
    Something like I didn't want to hurt you. This was only my clumsy/unskillful/awkward way/attempt to told tell you you didn't take the shortest road.
    Click to expand...
    "Awkward attempt" sounds best!
    Unskillful:cross:
    Clumsy is okay...but you should say "...my clumsy way of telling you..."
     
    Now if I not only say things that may hurt the other person but also act in such a way (for example I shout at him) and want to use the present tense and attempts (plural), should I say

    I don't want to hurt you. These are only my awkward attempts ...
    or
    I don't want to hurt you. It's only my awkward attempts ...

    Or may I still use attempt (singular) even if I do and say things that may hurt the other person?
     
    Something about those two sentences seems odd to me vost. What is the connection between hurting someone and awkwardly explaining something about a road? Are you sure that hurt is the word you want? Not confuse?
     
    Yes, hurt is the word.

    In that example, the person who explained was not as calm as he should have been while explaining. I used words that may have hurt and shouted at that other person.

    Then, he prefers to say that he awkwardly explained than to insisted on the fact that the other person didn't understood a very simple explanation.
     
    vost said:
    Yes, hurt is the word.

    In that example, the person who explained was not as calm as he should have been while explaining. He used words that may have hurt and shouted at that other person.

    Then, he prefers to say that he awkwardly explained than to insist_ [on the fact] that the other person didn't understand a very simple explanation.
    Click to expand...

    In that case, I assume that you are speaking of an event that happened in the past so you may use:

    "I did not meant to hurt you. That was only my clumsy attempt to explain that you did not take the shortest road."
     
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