Today's English Expression 20/30 · Level: Receiving and Replying to Reviews. All example sentences are made up for this post. They are not taken from actual repository comments, and configuration names are examples.
Table of Contents
- At a Glance
- 1. Meaning and Nuance
- 2. Examples
- 3. Similar Expressions and Differences
- 4. Common Mistakes Made by Korean Speakers
- 5. One-Line Practice
- Sample Answer
- References
At a Glance
| Expression | Feel free to push back (if you disagree). |
| Meaning | Feel free to disagree if you don't share this view. |
| When to Use | End of review comments, design proposals, meetings |
| Politeness | Soft and open attitude. Mostly used by reviewers. |
1. Meaning and Nuance
Derived from "pushing something away," push back is used as a phrasal verb meaning "to oppose or resist (plans, ideas, or changes)." Oxford Learner's Dictionaries notes this usage specifically as North American English, providing examples with "on," such as push back on something. The noun form is written as a single combined word: pushback.
Feel free to is an expression of permission meaning "go ahead and ~." Combining the two, "Feel free to push back" is a phrase where the reviewer opens the door by saying, "It's okay to push back if you don't agree with my point." Reviewers typically add this when they may not know the context of the code as well as the author, or when making a suggestion that leans close to personal preference. External contributors often find it difficult to go against a maintainer's word, and this single line helps relieve that burden.
Google's code review guidelines feature an article titled Handling pushback in code reviews. Here, pushback refers to situations where the author disagrees with the reviewer's suggestions. The guidelines ask reviewers to first consider whether the author might be right, as authors often understand the code better. If so, accept it; if you still believe improvement is needed, ask you to politely explain why.
Push back also has another meaning: "to delay or postpone (a schedule)." The release was pushed back to next month means the release has been delayed to next month. In a review context, it is almost always read as "to oppose/disagree."
2. Examples
Scenario 1: When a reviewer makes a suggestion based on personal preference
I'd split this function into two, but this is mostly a style preference. Feel free to push back if you think it reads better as is.
"As is" means "in its current state without changes."
Scenario 2: When the author politely pushes back
I'd like to push back a little on this one. Making the field required would break existing manifests, so I'd prefer to keep it optional and add a warning instead.
Adding "a little" softens the intensity of the disagreement while providing reasons and an alternative.
Scenario 3: At the end of a design proposal
This is my current thinking, but I haven't used this feature in production. Please push back if this doesn't match your experience.
3. Similar Expressions and Differences
- Happy to be convinced otherwise. Meaning "I am open to being persuaded differently," this is more polite and slightly more formal.
- Open to other ideas. Means you are open to other thoughts. It feels more like asking for alternative proposals rather than disagreement.
- I respectfully disagree. A polite expression used when the author is disagreeing. However, it can sound a bit heavy, so for minor points, "I'm not sure about this one, because ..." is more natural.
4. Common Mistakes Made by Korean Speakers
- Your opinion is wrong. This sounds like a personal attack. Focus on the code and the rationale instead.
- Corrected sentence: I'm not sure this works for the upgrade case. Here's why: ...
- Wanting to push back but silently fixing it as instructed. Reviewers may not know your context. Sharing your reasoning helps the project.
- Corrected sentence: I can change it, but I want to flag a concern first: ...
- I push back your comment. Push back requires "on," and you push back against the suggestion, not the person.
- Corrected sentence: I'd like to push back on this suggestion.
5. One-Line Practice
Write a review reply from the author's perspective for the following situation.
I'd like to disagree a bit with this part. Adding a cache might lead to reading outdated values, so I think it's better not to include it for now.
Sample Answer
I'd like to push back a bit on this. Adding a cache here could lead to stale reads, so I'd rather not add one for now.
"Stale" means no longer fresh or valid. "Stale reads" refers to the issue of reading outdated values due to caching.
TT's Note. Disagreement is not rudeness. Accompanied by reasons and alternatives, it is a contribution.
References
- Oxford Learner's Dictionaries, "push back": https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/push-back
- Google Engineering Practices, Handling pushback in code reviews: https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/reviewer/pushback.html