Strawman Argument

If you spot this happening, just give up and walk away, it’s an utterly exhausting tactic used by my wife (and others obviously) all the time to avoid dealing with the issue at hand.

It’s where a person will shift the goalposts slightly (it’s one part of the whole word salad thing).

Example 1:
Me:
“Just one sec, I just want to hear the end of the news.”

Susan:
“Are you saying I talk too much?”

Me:
“What? that’s not what I said…”

Queue the exhausting back and fourth…

Example 2:
Me:
“It might be no harm to slow down a small bit here because…”

Susan:
“I’m not driving too fast, why are you saying I’m speeding?”

Me:
“OMG, that’s not what I meant”

Susan:
“You’re literally just after saying I was speeding”

Oh God.. here we go again, no good deed goes unpunished.

Example 3
Me: “Would you mind turning it down just a little please”

Susan: “Are you saying I’m def? Grrrr…”

Example 4
Me: “You said you were finishing work early today…”

Susan: “Just because you think your work is more important than mine… Grrr…”

—or—

Susan: “Are you saying I can just leave work anytime I want, Grrrrr…”

etc.

It’s this thing they do were they bring the topic at hand just left or right, twist your words into something else and start arguing with you about something related to the topic at hand but not actually the topic at hand.