Reading Question
Sep 04th 2011 22:25
Of all things, banish the egotism out of your conversation, and never think of entertaining people with your own personal concerns, or private, affairs; though they are interesting to you, they are tedious and impertinent to everybody else; besides that, one cannot keep one’s own private affairs too secret. Whatever you think your own excellencies may be, do not affectedly display them in company; nor labor, as many people do, to give that turn to the conversation, which may supply you with an opportunity of exhibiting them. If they are real, they will infallibly be discovered, without your pointing them out yourself, and with much more advantage.
I have a question about the phrase "give that turn to the conversation." What does the "that" refer to?
We say that a conversation "turns to" a particular topic, so changing the topic can be spoken of as a "turn of (a) conversation." Here, the particular "turn of conversation" being warned against is the one stated at the beginning of the sentence, the topic of one's own excellence.
This entire passage sounds as if it was probably written at least a century or so ago, and if it was more recent, it is more likely to be UK English than US English.