ABSTRACT

Meaning, it is clear, is context-dependent. But context is elusive. If I tell you it is from a Russian novel, I still might be teasing you, pulling your leg, being contemptuous or even antisemitic. So, it depends on who is talking to whom, in what setting, and what communicational mode (irony, sarcasm, humor) is being used. To use another example: the noted psychologist Jerome Bruner, in discussing the development of just such skills in children, suggested that the child must learn that "Would you be so kind as to pass the salt?" is not an inquiry into his capacity for compassion. 3 This is a matter of semantics. But there is another pragmatic level; in this society, people do not use that degree of archaic formality unless they are furious! Any contemporary person, so addressed, would understand instantly that anger is implied.