Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2003

Publication Title

medium

Volume

1

Issue

11

First Page

80

Last Page

80

Abstract

Every rare once in a while, I find myself caught in a conversation where the person I'm talking to goes off on a tangent. And I don't mean a little aside. I mean a "What the hell are you talking about!?" tangent.

Luckily, for the other 99% of conversations, there are some general guidelines for engagement that help us avoid making mistakes like this one. H. Paul Grice, a language philosopher, is the scholar credited with first writing about these rules in a widespread way. Grice theorized that participants in conversation operate by an overarching approach that we now call The Cooperative Principle.

Comments

From the column, Frankly Speaking: A Discussion of the English Language.

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