Hallway convo's that I'm not part of are good
Person 1 (P1): Hi Karen!
Person 2 (p2): Hi!
P1: What are you doing?
P2: Oh, just pushing around all these boxes back and forth all day.
P1: Yeah...[1 second pause]
P2: a pain...[1 second pause]..you know how that is.
P1: Do you want to go have dinner later?
P2: Oh, I don't know. Where?
P1: Uhh...I don't know.
P2: Yeah! Sounds great!
I stopped listening after that because I didn't know why P2 was enthused about going to dinner at an unknown location. She wasn't being sarcastic either. They were both women, and I'm guessing they are friends and they enjoy each others company, so regardless of where they go, they'll have a good time.
I just found it a bit awkward as an outsider coming into the conversation by way of intrusion. This leads me to thinking about conversation styles and understanding/interpreting *our* own conversations. It seems that without any background knowledge of the situation, which includes that interlocutor(s), we would have absolutely no clue as to what the hell we are getting ourselves into. We would be just saying words to each other. We need that initial conceptual understanding of (a) the world, and (b) the situation that forms our words (such that in a situation where you are in the back alleys of Chicago and are held up with a .45 under your chin, you wouldn't say, "Do you know how the Sox did in today's game?"). I believe there is a cognitive process that precedes (b) that helps us categorize the world hierarchically, so that within nanoseconds, our mind immediately knows the mold it must use in order to it to form those words that you are about to speak.
Anyway, I've got this stupid psych exam tomorrow and I think I need to head back home in order to get the website. I thought I had it, but it turns out to be for the Canadian edition (Canadian freaks!). I'm just roughin' all you Canadians up [[? roughin' up you Canadians] this would make sense only because *I* would say "I'm fluffing up the pillow."].
~mc
Person 2 (p2): Hi!
P1: What are you doing?
P2: Oh, just pushing around all these boxes back and forth all day.
P1: Yeah...[1 second pause]
P2: a pain...[1 second pause]..you know how that is.
P1: Do you want to go have dinner later?
P2: Oh, I don't know. Where?
P1: Uhh...I don't know.
P2: Yeah! Sounds great!
I stopped listening after that because I didn't know why P2 was enthused about going to dinner at an unknown location. She wasn't being sarcastic either. They were both women, and I'm guessing they are friends and they enjoy each others company, so regardless of where they go, they'll have a good time.
I just found it a bit awkward as an outsider coming into the conversation by way of intrusion. This leads me to thinking about conversation styles and understanding/interpreting *our* own conversations. It seems that without any background knowledge of the situation, which includes that interlocutor(s), we would have absolutely no clue as to what the hell we are getting ourselves into. We would be just saying words to each other. We need that initial conceptual understanding of (a) the world, and (b) the situation that forms our words (such that in a situation where you are in the back alleys of Chicago and are held up with a .45 under your chin, you wouldn't say, "Do you know how the Sox did in today's game?"). I believe there is a cognitive process that precedes (b) that helps us categorize the world hierarchically, so that within nanoseconds, our mind immediately knows the mold it must use in order to it to form those words that you are about to speak.
Anyway, I've got this stupid psych exam tomorrow and I think I need to head back home in order to get the website. I thought I had it, but it turns out to be for the Canadian edition (Canadian freaks!). I'm just roughin' all you Canadians up [[? roughin' up you Canadians] this would make sense only because *I* would say "I'm fluffing up the pillow."].
~mc