ABSTRACT

By the time I am back at my desk, I have seen that the interaction nicely exemplifies Goffman’s analysis of ‘talking to one’s self’, in his article on ‘Response Cries’ (Goffman, 1981a [1978]). There is a social prohibition on talking to oneself in public, such that if caught doing it, we can engage in a number of social repair mechanisms to make it appear that this was not what we were doing. This explains my anxiety to get my greeting heard/seen and returned, since otherwise I would be seen by others in the vicinity as talking to myself, hence mad. At the same time, Bill’s selfabsorption in his music in a public place was unheard of at the time that Goffman wrote his article in 1978, but nowadays, the visible feature of his little black earphones can excuse his apparent refusal to act sociably and return my greeting.