1. Your partner's vertically-challenged best mate comes round. How many times do you mention Frankie Dettori or Mini-Me in the first half an hour?
a) At least twice - sometimes when you're actively trying not to mention something you just can't stop mentioning it.
b) Once, then try to make a big joke out of it and make things even more embarrassing.
c) None. You wouldn't dream of being so insensitive - even accidentally...
2. You've just totally slagged off someone you know. The person you're talking to looks aghast and tells you the person you've just ripped to shreds is a relative. What do you do?
a) Back-pedal frantically, saying you don't really know them at all and you're sure they're actually very nice, blah blah blah...
b) Apologise for being so vile.
c) Offer your condolences to them for being related to someone so hideous.
3. Which of the following comedy characters do you find the most amusing?
a) Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers
b) Father Dougal from Father Ted
c) Tony from Men Behaving Badly
4. Have you ever mercilessly slated someone only to find they were within earshot?
a) No - you try not to bitch about people behind their backs.
b) Yes, but you kind of wanted them to hear it.
c) Yes - and what a nightmare experience it was too. (They're still not talking to you.)
5. A friend invites you to her new flat. You say it'll look great once she's got rid of the nasty "old people"s home' decor. She says she's already redecorated. Do you:
a) Start parpling on about how the B & B look is very "this season".
b) Start mumbling cliches, such as "each to their own" and "it takes all sorts" whilst resigning yourself to the fact that your friendship is now well and truly over.
c) Suggest that she might be colour blind and recommend a good optician.
6. What do you make of Hugh Grant's character in Four Weddings And A Funeral?
a) Really irritating - how can anyone be that flaky?
b) Very funny and human - someone you can totally identify with.
c) He's a bumbling idiot of the highest order!
7. With how many of the following statements do you agree?
* There's no such thing as a secret
* Hiding things from people doesn't help them in the long run
* There's nothing wrong with speaking your mind
* It's too much of a responsibility when you're given some information (without even asking for it), then ordered not to breathe a word to a soul
* If someone's upset by the truth, that's their problem - no-one else's
a) None of them - who comes up with this stuff?!
b) One or two of them make sense, I suppose.
c) Most or all of them - who is the great philosopher who writes these marvellous quizzes?
8. Have you ever been accused of being tactless?
a) Yes, but you don't know why.
b) Yes, it's a running joke amongst your friends and family.
c) No, because you're not.
Have you passed The Tact Test? Click here to find out...
SCORES
1. a-2; b-1; c-0
2. a-1; b-0; c-2
3. a-1; b-0; c-2
4. a-0; b-1; c-2
5. a-0; b-1; c-2
6. a-1; b-2; c-0
7. a-2; b-1; c-0
8. a-1; b-2; c-0
CONCLUSIONS
If you scored 10 or more points, you're always opening your mouth and putting your great big size 9s in it; no matter how hard you try, you just can seem to stop yourself. OK, so you've got a lot on your mind and you find it hard to keep track of what you're not supposed to say, but it never seems to cross your mind that the best thing to do - if only on occasion - is to keep totally schtum. You often find that making an effort to keep quiet about something makes it all the more likely that you're going to blurt it out at an inappropriate moment. When you put your foot in it, you often try to make things better by attempting to explain why you said what you said - and, in doing that, invariably end up by making things worse. You don't reckon you have a problem - you believe that everyone's capable of slipping up from time to time - you're just a tad more unlucky than most. But the truth is you're tactless. You've failed the Tact Test. You ARE the biggest blabber. Goodbye.
If you scored 6 - 10 points, like most people, you put your foot in it occasionally. When it happens, you find it pretty mortifying, but fortunately you have quite a cool way of handling such scenarios. You're reasonably thoughtful when it comes to others and controlled in what you say, and always make an effort to think before you blurt: any extreme tactlessness from you would be quite out of character. If you do slip up, you can usually extricate yourself without too much fuss. You're no angel by any means and enjoy a good gossip as much as the next person, but occasional bad luck means that you're sometimes caught out. When asked to keep a secret, you may tell one other person, but you wouldn't dream of mentioning anything to anyone who might be upset by the information. You believe in saying what you think, but are happy to keep quiet in order to avoid hurting another person's feelings.
If you scored 5 or under, you're a naturally tactful person and rarely put your foot in it. You're very aware of other people's feelings and make every effort not to hurt them. Some of the scenarios in the questions included in this quiz were very difficult for you to answer, simply because you've never been in those sort of predicaments. On the rare occasions when you have slipped up, the whole situation is so alien to you, you find it hard to cope. Your instant reaction is to retreat and this can manifest itself in a number of ways. You can't believe how tactless some people are and you find it hard to understand how certain types find tactless behaviour amusing. You're no saint, but you try not to say anything behind someone's back that you wouldn't be able to say to their face. And you believe that being gentle with people, instead of being blatantly truthful, is often for the best: honesty is no bad thing, but - and maybe you know this more than most - the truth can be painful sometimes...
