Problematizing interactions between longtime enemies, this discussion identifies an interpersonal hysteria (HS Sullivan, 1953) that obfuscates communication in anticipation of disapprobation and rejection. Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject, (1982) a similarly pre-discursive effort to protect identity and esteem, at the same forters a reductive binary between the pure vs. the corrupt. D.W. Winnicott’s concept of potential space (1971) is offered as an alternative area of overlap, a creative space within which literal and symbolic “not quite conversations” develop between polarized nemeses, a movement toward dialogue and mutual recognition.