Politeness

[Dennis R. Preston]

Dennis,

Congratulations on a thoughtful and insightful response to the Lousiana
bozos who would like to have every petty tyrant paid his or her "proper
respect" (to speak a little more directly than you). Why the superficial
aspects of school behaviors get the most attention and the underlying
causes the least would puzzle us if it were not for the fact that we know
(especially as linguists) that such superficialities hold such remarkable
symbolic value (ain't it the truth!).

I'll give you day before someone writes back upholding schoolroom
respectful language behavior (and it ain't even gon be Bill Bennett, I bet,
cause I'm takin odds he's not reading ADS-L).

dInIs

Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736