I was talking to a girl in English and in personal, friendly and non-formal situation.
The girl behaved like she…was obligated to speak with me like she did. It was just a feeling that she had some moral condition, that she forced herself to behave in a certain manner or that she had to talk to me in such manner becuase of whatever reason….like she had a specific goal with me and didn't care about talking with me at all.
With my non-native knowledge of english language, a sentence came to my mind very intuitively…I told her "You seem forced" and the exact moment I said that, it felt awkward…like, it's something a native english speaker would definitely NOT say. It sounded like I was implying she was being pushed by a physical force, like by a unexpectedly moving door or something.
But what I meant was more abstract… I tried to say (just to myself) several different sentences just to find what sounds best and haven't found any…
like:
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"You seem forced" – sounds awkward but she seemed like she was "forced" either by someone, by herself, by the situation, by the atmosphere, by anything. Not by physical force at all.
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"You sound like you have to speak with me" – sounds too long …and I feel there's strong implication of "You sound like someone told you you have to speak with me."
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"You don't look yourself" – I feel this conveys slightly different message…like "you don't look well" or "are you alright?"
I want to be clear in saying that she looks like she is being forced by the current situation or by herself for any reason, like she has a specific goal and doesn't care about talking with me at all.
How would you say that?
Is "you seem forced" OK or is that really weird?
What would you say in the situation, where a stranger approaches you but you feel there is a very blatant expression of "I don't care about you at all, I approached you and we're having this useless small-talk just because I want to get you to do something for me"…? How would you in most concise – but friendly and non-conflicting – way tell her that this behaviour is very obvious to you?
Best Answer
“You seem forced” can be used to indicate what you’ve expressed
Your meaning may have been gotten better than you think. “You seem forced” employs a fairly common usage of “forced”, indicating strain even though there is not a physical force. Note that “you look forced” in your question’s title is a little different, having to do with the way that “seem” refers more comprehensively to apparent behavior and “look” refers more to physical appearance.
Another way to say this that would be specific to tone of voice, diction, etc. would be “you sound forced” which could be hedged a little as “you sound a bit forced” and would be helpfully followed by a bit of explanation or a question, such as “is everything OK?”¹ or “do you feel you have to talk to me?”
Expanding on the “look”/“seem” difference in “you don’t look yourself”
With “you don’t look yourself”, it seems like you are saying that something about the other person’s physical appearance is unusual compared with historical data or some assumed expectation (e.g. someone’s face is green or streaked with tears and you assume they are not always that way, even if you don’t know them).
If you were to say “you don’t seem yourself”, your comments would be understood to refer to someone’s overall presentation. This could certainly include physical appearance, but is more often used to refer to someone’s speech, body language, and other aspects of behavior. I believe this phrase would fit the situation you described.
Note for “you don’t seem yourself”: Similar to “you don’t look yourself”, you would be understood to either be making a comparison to ways you’ve seen this person act before or ways you assume they normally act. For example, you think that the person doesn’t normally put so much emphasis on their words or deliver them in a staccato rhythm.
The note from the end of §1 of this answer applies here as well. Since you’re guessing at something about another person, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to describe a little more what you mean by what you’re saying. I personally think it would be appropriate to ask a question aimed at learning more about how this person is feeling and/or what they think about the situation.