Politeness in the history of English : from the Middle Ages to the present day /
"The British have a reputation for being excessively polite. A caricature version of this is available as a picture postcard on which two pictures illustrate allegedly incorrect and correct polite behaviour in a British context (Ford & Legon 2003; see also Wierzbicka 2006: 31). In the pictu...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2020.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | "The British have a reputation for being excessively polite. A caricature version of this is available as a picture postcard on which two pictures illustrate allegedly incorrect and correct polite behaviour in a British context (Ford & Legon 2003; see also Wierzbicka 2006: 31). In the picture illustrating the 'incorrect' behaviour, a man who is drowning shouts 'Help!' but gets no more than a haughty shrug and a turned shoulder from a passer-by and his dog. In the opposite picture illustrating the 'correct' behaviour, the drowning man politely exclaims, 'Excuse me, Sir. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind helping me a moment, as long as it's no trouble, of course.' In response, the passer-by immediately comes to the rescue with a life belt, and even his dog changes appearance, puts on a friendly face and wags its tail"-- |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 210 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781108499620 1108499627 |