The topic of ‘Speech Acts’ was really interesting, because I don’t think I ever really gave much thought to it. For me, using language is something so natural and normal that when I say something I don’t always realize that I’m performing an act. I think the fact that we call it a ‘performance’ kind of reflects on how no utterance is ever so ‘neutral’ as we think it is. I think this video sums up a bit of how un-neutral language can be when we use it – even if we don’t really realize we’re using it:
Anyway I had 1 final thought, which I guess is also kind of a question:
Maybe joking can also be a way of deflecting a compliment?
If a really good friend of mine complimented me, I think I’d be more inclined to be thick-skinned and go “Of course I’m pretty!” as opposed to “Thank you”. But then I thought maybe this could be a form of deflecting, where we play up the humor so we don’t have to deal with the compliment, because maybe we aren’t fully comfortable/used to receiving compliments! I mean, I think in Asian societies, the virtue of humility gets played up quite a bit so we don’t really give nor receive compliments much. It’d be quite a good strategy to use humor to sort of downplay the compliment, while at the same time giving this impression that you’re a funny person.
“Of course I’m pretty!” is a bit tricky, but I would take it as an 'accept'. I know it's different from a straightforward 'thank you.'
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