Date:  Thu, 23 Oct 1997 16:42:55 -0400
From:  Beverly Flanigan <FLANIGAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
Subject: Re: sociolinguistic competence

  I just now read the flurry of messages responding to my rejection of
  Melissa's claim that politeness has declined. Ellen has said exactly
  what I had intended to say: We need _empirical evidence_ (which is
  also culturally contextualized, as other respondents have noted) for
  change-through-time claims; anecdotal impressions just won't do! (And
  what does it mean to say that "people don't care for society anymore,"
  or to relate this to the question of what it is to be an American???)

  On "Bless you" specifically: It is of course intended as a "tail wag"
  (referred to generally as phatic communication). But the presumed
  sharing of a religious/theological frame of reference is what I react
  to when I remain silent--not angrily but as a kind of quiet protest.
  The German "Gesundheit" is more acceptable to me, since it only means
  "Good health," but of course few know it or use it anymore.

  Next week I'll be talking in my Sociolinguistics class about politeness
  and face and how they're culturally contextualized and empirically
  observable. Students will do small field-based projects--I'll let you
  know if they come up with startling new discoveries!