> I think there's one nuance people
> seem to have left out, which might
> be the most important one if
> someone has called you intense,
> namely as a term non-intellectuals
> apply to intellectuals. It's used
> by the kind of people who think
> "judgmental" is a bad thing; people
> who don't want to rock the boat,
> and think we should all get along
> by bracketing every zone of
> contention; people who avoid going
> into intellectual detail out of
> disinterest and politics out of
> politeness -- people like that
> might say "you're intense" as an
> attempt to explain why you scare
> people without being insulting and
> suggesting how you might soften it.
>
> I've most often run into this usage
> in the secretarial pool. There it
> is as much a respectful compliment
> as it is an insult -- a way of
> saying "you're above us" while
> telling you how it feels. It also
> attempts to proffer a neutral
> explanation for how you could be a
> good person underneath it all, and
> to suggest that a modus vivendi is
> possible once people are sensitized
> to overlook certain things that
> this word prepares them for -- like
> allusions to books (which makes
> them feel stupid) or a constant
> readiness to argue (you would
> probably only think of it as
> "clarify") when their goal in life
> is the joy of agreement.
Well said, Michael.
Shane