ABSTRACT

In an award-winning article written over 25 years ago, this is how Robert Hopper (198 la) described the process of trying to illuminate taken-for-granteds (TFGs). Together with its companion piece (Hopper, 1981b), these articles make the discomforting observation-to the communication researcher, at least-that much of face to face interaction is finally incomplete, ambiguous and unknowable.