Grice's Conversational Maxims Assignment Unit 8

Consider Grice’s Conversational Maxims. Think of an example of when you or someone you have observed has violated each of the maxims and why. Was one maxim violated in order to follow another? For the sake of humor? Out of politeness? For each, discuss how you signaled this (tone of voice, body language, linguistic signal) and if you didn’t signal tell why. Post your examples for each on the blog.

Maxim of Relevance:
One time, my brother got a really bad hair cut. I had a friend of mine, who was unaware of the bad hair cut, to ask my brother how he likes his new hair cut. "Hey, I heard you got a new hair cut." my friend says. My brother replys, "Oh, how about them Eagles? They're playing well this year." This violates the maxim because my brother wants to change the subject instead of receiving ridicule for his aweful hair cut. He changes his tone to signal that he doesn't want to talk about it.

Maxim of Quality:
A while back, a friend of mine and I were walking towards a lake carrying fishing poles, tackle boxes, and a bucket of live bait. A man walks by us and asks `You fellas going fishing?" I respond, "No, we are going bear hunting. I hope to get a 500 pounder." I violated this maxim for the sake of humor. It was obvious by my tone of voice and body language I wasn't serious. The man laughed when I said that and responded, "I knew it was a stupid question as soon as I said it, I walked right into that one."

Maxim of Quantity:
When I was in college, I had a roommate who was on the phone next to me talking with a co-worker. The co-worked asked him if he received the tickets to see "Smarty Jones" (A race horse) at the Preakness  in New York telling my roommate that he left a message with me about picking up the tickets. I left my roommate a written message about this and left it on his desk..obviously he never got it. Knowing that I was hearing this conversation since he had it on speaker phone, my roommate asks, "Did anyone call for me in the last two weeks?" (referring to the message he never got, but never saying it) I decided to be a wise guy and said with a sarcastic tone and  "Duh" facial expression "Of Course! It's been two weeks!" I violated this maxim for the sake of humor. I purposely didn't provide the information he required to fully answer the question, causing my roomate to roll his eyes and call me "Wise Ass!"

Maxim of Manner:
I was hanging out with a friend of mine, who happens to be a woman. She intruduced me to one of her friends saying "This is my guy, Damian." The person I was introduced to, based on her introduction assumed that I was her "boyfriend" not just a friend. This was a violation of the manner maxim. Of course this caused a bit of confusion, due to my friend's poor choice of words, the new group of people who arrived thought we were a couple. When we realized the mistake of communication we made it clear that we were NOT a couple.