Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 13:16:04 -0500

From: Ron Butters RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM

Subject: Re: unctuous speech -Reply



I agree completely. I don't think I've ever advocated rudeness in all my

postings on this subject! My basic purpose all along has been to point out

that "Bless you!" is a highly unusual linguistic response, and that its

function is ENTIRELY "phatic" (to use the term PHATIC the way it is generally

used, regardless of etymology). I'm not emotionally committed to stamping it

out--just a dispassionate observor.



*****in reply to:

Subj: unctuous speech -Reply

Date: Mon 27 Oct, 1997 1:26 PM EDT

From: Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com

X-From: Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com (Mark Mandel)

To: RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com



A good point (and well made!). But "Bless you" is not always unctuous.

Sometimes I see it as a normal part of a subculture different from mine,

and then we're dealing with an interface problem... to which my

preferred approach is that the nuisance (of the -- to me -- misapplied oil)

is negligible for the sake of the more general flow of operations. That is,

making a fuss about it would cause more disruption than ignoring it.