Hot answers tagged conversation
27
Such utterances are known as phatic. In the OED's definition, they 'serve to establish or maintain social relationships rather than to impart information, communicate ideas.' Exchanges about the weather, such as you describe, can made without a greeting such as 'Hello' or 'Good morning' and often occur between strangers.
26
I've heard it said that "could care less" is meant to be ironic, but I think this is just justification for the bastardisation of an English phrase.
Here we go (from World Wide Words):
There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with ...
26
So, the preferred method of addressing a professor in the US is not entirely consistent. Variations from university to university or even department to department occur, however, at the three universities/departments I've attended/been employed by, the following is true:
If the professor holds a doctorate, calling him/her Dr. Lastname is the most common ...
20
The practice of doing so is actually a field of research and the use of these words in such a manner can be classified as fillers, used while someone is busy grasping what they want to say and so on.
From Wikipedia we get a general overview of this:
Fillers are parts of speech which are
not generally recognized as purposeful
or containing formal ...
16
Such statements are usually considered conversation starters/openers:
A conversation opener is an introduction used to begin a conversation. They are frequently the subject of guides and seminars on how to make friends and/or meet people. Different situations may call for different openers (e.g. approaching a stranger on the street versus meeting them at ...
15
This is an example of phatic communication:
phatic [ˈfætɪk] adj (Linguistics) (of speech, esp of conversational phrases) used to establish social contact and to express sociability rather than specific meaning
15
Obviously?
Simply questioning the statement comes right to the point. You didn't actually say that you were looking for a witty comeback. Just that you wanted a good response.
You can always add:
How can it be obvious, seeing it is
false?
14
A corresponding conversation in English might go something like this:
― You should get yourself a girlfriend!
― A girlfriend? What’s that?!
It’s more sarcasm than irony, and the reply is often “deadpanned”.
13
You are correct that "yeah" and "yep" are informal variants of "yes." In conversation among friends, any form is appropriate, but "yep" has a slightly dismissive tone.
"Did you find your wallet?"
"Yeah, I left it in the other room."
As opposed to
"Did you get directions to the theater?"
"Yep."
In the second example, you're implying that ...
13
As an American, I can report that everyone I know, even highly educated people, use these forms several times a day. People in business meetings, professors giving lectures,... everyone. Sometimes people are being slow, clear, and deliberate, in which case they will pronounce the full phrase, which does sound more formal by comparison.
My sense, as an ...
12
I might say something along the lines of:
I was thinking the same thing.
Or:
I was just about to suggest the same thing.
Or (this is a bit more of an idiom):
Great minds think alike.
12
If someone says "excuse me" to get your attention, the response is "I'm sorry, yes?" or something to that effect. If they say "excuse me" because you are in their way, then the response is to move out of the way and say "I'm sorry" or "sorry". And if they are saying "excuse me" in a loud, drawn-out, sarcastic way, the proper response is to tell them the ...
11
The usage of like as a random interjection/hedge/quotative particle is older than most of the girls who are using it nowadays. It certainly predates Facebook by several decades. It's one of the defining characteristics of "valley girl" speech, which originated in California (specifically, the vast tract of suburbia known collectively as the San Fernando ...
11
Using "like" as in "this is, like, uncool" used to be strongly associated with Valspeak:
Many phrases and elements of Valspeak are stable elements of the California English dialect lexicon, and in some cases wider American English (such as the widespread use of "like" as a hedge).
This use of "like" is again mentioned in the Wikipedia entry on ...
10
I am fine, thank you. And you? is still used, but I consider it to be overly formal. It could also be considered very polite, however, and I would probably use a phrase similar to this as a response when being introduced to someone older than me, like a friend's parent or grandparent, for instance.
In the US, the short version of this phrase is a common ...
10
The Garbage Words you talk of are a mixture of Discourse Markers and fillers.
Discourse Markers, like 'well', 'you know', 'I mean' are words we use in speech to separate different pieces of information. They are not really necessary for understanding but they do provide the speaker with a moment to collect his/her thoughts and organise them.
Fillers, like ...
10
I find your examples confusing, but looking at the article and your question here is what I have to say:
Conditional apologies indeed leave space for possibility that there is nothing to apologize for.
This in itself is not rude.
Actually, I believe that such constructs became popular because it allows you to be extra polite and to apologize for minor ...
10
The Wiktionary explains it in the best way possible:
there, there: (idiomatic) Conveys comfort; used to calm somebody or urge somebody to relax, especially when the person is crying.
There, there. Even though you broke up with her, you'll be fine.
10
Another idiomatic option (at least in British English) would be:
You should get yourself a girlfriend.
Sorry, never heard of it.
The use of the impersonal pronoun "it" is part of the humour; it indicates that the speaker not only has no girlfriend, but doesn't even understand the concept that a "girlfriend" might be a type of human being.
9
You should feel free to say either variety. "Could care less" actually occurs more frequently. It is an entrenched idiom. No fluent speaker will have any trouble understanding what you mean. The Oxford English Dictionary lists both with the same meaning:
care
...
(4). In negative and conditional construction: a. not to care passes from the ...
9
Well might originally be a shortened form of a phrase, but I think it is safe to say that people who use it are generally treating it as a distinct entity (not short for something); it is a grammatical particle that is used to "facilitate discourse".
In this situation, it is being used by one speaker to acknowledge what the other speaker said. It can also ...
9
"I'm fine" is the standard happy medium. "I'm well" marks you as British English,
while "I'm good" marks you as casual American. "I'm good" is incorrect in the traditional sense, but is broadly used to affect careless informality.
"Good" is traditionally a moral qualifier, or an indicator of ripeness, not human wellness as such.
9
In one of Terry Pratchett's children's books, a computer that - unlike the nomes[sic] that are the main characters - understand human speech, explains that a conversation it overheard consisted of "I am still alive. Are you still alive?" "Yes, I am still alive". This seems foolish to the nomes until the realise that most of their conversations consist of ...
8
You can definitely say "see you later" or "talk to you later" as the final utterance before ending your conversation. You can add "bye" afterwards if you choose — it wouldn't sound strange, but it is not needed.
The other person may respond with "bye" (but could also say other things like "see you"), but it is not necessary for you to then say "bye" in ...
8
I think it definitely has a use in some cases. The use is to get the person on the other end of the line to actually stop talking so you can end the call. Usually one starts signalling a desire to end the conversation by abandoning substantive answers in favor of simple affirmatives, transitioning at last to repeated versions of good-bye. Here's how such a ...
8
They are called pleasantries. From The Free Dictionary:
pleas·ant·ry (n.)
1. A humorous remark or act; a jest.
2. A polite social utterance; a civility.
3. A good-humored or playful manner in conversation or social relations.
8
The Oxford English Dictionary includes this form of not as an interjection, writing:
colloq. [perhaps influenced by nit adv. (see J. T. Sheidlower and J. E. Lighter in Amer. Speech (1993) 68 213–8). In later use, popularized by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in the ‘Wayne's World’ sketches on the NBC television programme Saturday Night Live from 1989, and ...
7
It's ok to use it in pretty much any email and (especially) phone conversation, even in business context. At least that's my experience from the software industry (communicating mostly with European and North American people). For formal letters and academic writing it would be a different story, of course.
But if you don't want to annoy people, please do ...
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