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I’m trying to find the term or expression to describe the behaviour when someone responds to a simple question with a complaint vs the answer.

Eg

Person A:) (setting the table, trying to get the right count of place settings ) “Is Becky here for dinner tonight?”

Person B:) (hostile response) “I’ve told you 10 times, Becky is on night shifts on Wednesdays!”

Note it often requires the first person to re-ask the question as no clarity was provided in the response... which just causes more disgruntlement.

I’m guessing the term is close to “belittle” or “disparage” but I suspect there is a more accurate term.

Robusto
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user398321
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  • It seems to me that Person B answered Person A's question: Becky is on night shift on Wednesdays. It's implicit that your exchange occurred on a Wednesday. – Richard Kayser Sep 11 '20 at 22:21
  • A term for something implies a noun. It is unclear what you are looking for as you give verbs “belittle/disparage” and you also give a noun phrase "hostile response", which is appropriate, but you seem to have rejected it. – Greybeard Sep 12 '20 at 08:36

3 Answers3

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Others may find more suitable words but, to me, person B seems to be captious or carping, probably both. Most dictionaries will give you meanings similar to:

captious = an ill-natured inclination to stress faults and raise objections

carping = marked by a querulous and perversely critical attitude.

Anton
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This is dismissive behaviour, though I doubt you'll find a term actually denoting both irritation / anger and a non-answer.

From Merriam-Webster:

dismissive [adjective]:

serving to dismiss or reject someone or something : having or showing a disdainful attitude toward someone or something regarded as unworthy of serious attention

  • He responded to the question with a dismissive wave.

There is already a question addressing 'responding to a question with a reply that is not an answer': What do you call a response which does not address the question? (evasion, answering obliquely, answering with a non-sequitur, dodging the question etc).

Edwin Ashworth
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They're being offhand or brusque.

Offhand (adj): Ungraciously or offensively nonchalant or cool in manner.

Example: You were a bit offhand with her this afternoon.
[Lexico]


Brusque: Abrupt or offhand in speech or manner.

Example: His brusque manner seemed to egg her on and she raised her chin a bit.
[Lexico]


I can't think of any word that connotes both brusqueness and exasperation at the same time. But you could us ethe following idioms:

  • They're brushing you off
  • They're biting your head off

Brush someone off: If someone brushes you off when you speak to them, they refuse to talk to you or be nice to you.

Example: When I tried to talk to her about it she just brushed me off.
[Collins Dictionary]

Bite someone's head off: to speak to someone angrily when there is no reason to.

Example: I just asked if I could help – you don’t have to bite my head off!
[CED]

Decapitated Soul
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