The Thin Line Between Frankness and Rudeness...

Frankness and rudeness are two very ominous sounding words that can have a lot of different meanings to people. I have always thought of frankness as bold faced honesty. You say what you feel no matter what and the intentions are usually not hrtful ones. just honest ones from the heart. rudeness takes on a different tone. Things are often said to be hurtful. It's when the honesty you send out is cold and uncaring.

Giving our feedback is good especially if it will help others to improve. But sometimes it was being mistakenly considered as being rude because of the way it is being delivered. Yes, some truth really hurts but if we say it in a nice way, it could somehow reduce the pain that comes with telling the truth. Like in giving negative feedback, we could make a statement starting the positive aspect before going on to the negative one. Say, if we would like to comment on the way our friends delivered a speech, "You have done it well, congratulations! It could be better if... or you can improve more... Sometimes I would also give my opinion if it was being asked but if the situation really needs that I speak up it's another story.

I agree with what everyone is saying. The difference between being frank and rude is how you say something to someone. The saying 'do to others how you would like be done to you' is worth remembering when you need to be straightforward to someone because this will help to avoid you sounding unintentionally rude.