Comments on: #133 Phatic Nonsense

By: Emil

Emil — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:50:58 +0000

Good! Now do the same to ‘How are you?’ and ‘What’s up?’.

By: Abeo

Abeo — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:53:26 +0000

I’ve actually started avoiding saying “you’re welcome” unless I actually mean that they are welcome to the service I have provided. Instead, i say “no problem” or “no trouble”.

By: Emil

Emil — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:03:41 +0000

Another thing people do when they make puns is to state whether or not they are intended. -_- They are always intended in an important sense if you’re aware of them.

On topic. I didn’t know there was a name for this. A friend of mine always begins phone conversations with “Yes, it’s me” (In danish). Obviously no matter who is talking, it is always ‘me’. His utterance conveys no useful cognitive meaning, but the listener can identify the person by the voice, so some information is conveyed nonetheless. It’s a very interesting language phenomenon.

By: chaospet

chaospet — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:56:39 +0000

It’s a higher order evaluation; when they first occur to me, I am proud. But on reflection I am ashamed both of the puns and my pride in them.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:42:14 +0000

Actually let me rephrase that last part:

And apart from this, we know you really are proud of them; you aren’t fooling us.