Hey guys,

Okay, let’s clear something up here – it’s one of my pet hates with the way us community folks talk about direct and indirect opening.

Read the following sentences ALOUD:

- ‘LMR is one of the problems with going indirect.’

- ‘I recommend guys go in direct these days, it conveys more sexual intent.’

And the sentence th at sums it all up:

- Going in direct is the way more efficient than going indirect.’

Have you spotted the cause of my upset yet?

Saying: ‘going in direct’ sounds EXACTLY THE SAME as saying ‘going indirect‘…although they mean totally different things! This is very confusing!
Many times I’ve been at a seminar or conference and watched a collective look of exasperated befuddlement sweep across a room of students when the speaker utters something like the above lines. Let’s clean up these phrases because it’s confusing to beginners and, far more importantly, very annoying!

ABOVE: A Look of Exasperated Befuddlement

Proposed solutions:

Solution 1: ‘going indirect’ + ‘going direct’

Solution2: ‘going in indirect’ + ‘going in direct’

Solution3: ‘opening indirectly’ + ‘opening directly’

So what do you guys think? Personally, I use Solution3 when I teach. Does anyone have some other good suggestions?

Let’s sally forth and rid the land of this rankling turn of phrase, huzzah!!!!

Keys