Meaning of "That's one less person I'm not speaking to. "

[Eslam Elbyaly]

HI,
What is the meaning of that sentence, "[FONT=&quot]That's one less person I'm not speaking to."?
[/FONT]

 

[GoesStation]

That's a tricky one. The person quoted was previously refusing to speak to five people. Then something changed; now, the person is refusing to speak to only four people. (I made up the number of people to illustrate the point.)

 

[Eslam Elbyaly]

Thanks, but I did not get it.
There are two persons, the one who is talking, and the one intended.
So, as you are saying the sentence means that he talks with him normally now?

 

[Eslam Elbyaly]

I do not think that what the sentence means.
Here is the whole dialog, it is quoted from a movie.
"[FONT=&quot]PATRICIA: Did you push it? - Yeah. Yes, I pushed it. I'm so late. Random House fired Dick Atkins. Good riddance. Murray Chilton died. [/FONT][FONT=&quot]That's one less person I'm not speaking to[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Uch! Vince got a great review."[/FONT]

 

[Eslam Elbyaly]

Unfortunately, I did not understand.
- Is there a relation between the death of Murray and refusing to talk to him? I mean, if Murray is still alive, would not the sentence have the same meaning?
- Why is the sentence is in present continuous if Murray is already dead?

 

[GoesStation]

On Monday, the speaker says "I'm not speaking to five people." Murray dies on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the speaker could say "Last week I wasn't speaking to five people. Now I'm not speaking to four people. That makes one less person I'm currently not speaking to."