tact is not my strongest suit

[dr4b]

There really must be a polite way to say "thanks for going to such a great effort to inform me about something I already knew", right?

(In English, by the way. There's no point in even remotely trying to convey it in Japanese.)

Comments

[rjmccall.livejournal.com]

That would be an intriguing variant on "polite".

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

Well, yes--it's a subversion of intent. I agree that the most polite thing to do is not to mention it at all. If the level of effort was sufficiently great, there's no really good way to tell them that it was in vain without making them feel bad.
From the general frustration level in Deanna's entries lately I was assuming that this person was annoying. So if you're going to tell them, it might as well be with the intention of getting them to go away.

[zml.livejournal.com]

Yes, leave it to Carl to come up with the passive aggressive meaning for "polite." :)