Christy in Norfolk, Virginia, shares a funny story about how she and a friend failed to communicate about an invitation. The friend often mentioned that she and some pals were going to a club, assuming that Christy would understand that she was also invited. Christy assumed she wasn’t invited just because she was hearing about the plans. In other words, she missed what linguists call the implicature of her friend’s statement, failing to understand that an invitation was implied. So much of conversational pragmatics involves renegotiation, restatement, and clarification, but that didn’t happen in this case. When it finally did, Christy went along to the club — and ended up meeting her future husband! This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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