I think we should take a step back from this discussion and look at the bigger picture.

Oh hello, I’ve been checking email on my phone for the past five minutes – by the way, have you noticed that I have the newest iPhone? Anyway, I have no idea what we’re talking about now, so would you mind just catching me up?

Look, let’s not get lost in details.

OMG, I have no idea what those graphs mean, or who Wilcox is and why I should care about his rank sum test. This all seems really complicated. Can you just, like, do a Western blot instead?

Have you thought about how to scale this up to genome-wide?

I don’t think that issue in particular is of the most importance to the field

I’m pretty sure we’re going to get scooped on that result.

You know, these results have the potential to be a real game-changer.

Ha ha, we’re going to scoop them!

In tackling this problem, we need to take a lot of shots on goal to make sure we hit a real home run.

I’ve never played on any athletic teams, and I’m not sure my sports metaphors make any sense.

I think we should take those results with a grain of salt.

I reviewed that paper and can’t believe the idiot editor accepted it!

I’d like to thank Jason for experimental assistance and Amanda for helpful discussions.

Jason did all the work and Amanda told me what it meant.

I think it’d be best if we scheduled a more-formal meeting to really discuss your project in detail.

Even though we’ve been talking at your bench for ten minutes, I am realizing now that I have confused you with another postdoc, and I actually have no idea what you are working on.

I’m not sure that’s really Professor Ambrose’s area of expertise.

I once went golfing with Professor Ambrose and he wouldn’t shut up for 4-plus hours. I need a break from him.

I gave your manuscript a quick read this weekend.

I printed it out on Friday and used it as a coaster for my martini on Saturday night. Look, you can even see a water-stain on the paper.

When it comes to the analysis of the data set, let’s not boil the ocean.

Look, this grant is due in three days and now you’re telling me about problems with interpretations of the data?

So, what are my action items from this meeting?

In how many different ways will I be disappointing you this week?