My last post was about health and safety signs and whether or not they are necessary. I don't want to go into that again but there was one example that I think bears further examination with my language teacher's hat on
The example was "Surfaces may become slippery when wet."
This is presented in the article as being humorous because the words, in their literal sense seem to evoke a "Well, duh!" response. But such phrases, that are not intended to be taken at face value, are perfectly commonplace. They are the kind of language that we encounter every day, and not just in the context of signs. Take this simple exchange.
First Man: "Excuse me, do you know the correct time?"
Second Man: "Yes, thank you, I have a very good watch."
As an answer to the question it's both perfectly logical and utterly incorrect. The problem is that the questioner has used a polite circumlocution that completely fails to ask the question he wants answered and the person answering him has answered the question asked, not the one intended.
Of course, it's a very unlikely conversation. Far more likely would be this exchange.
First Man: "Excuse me, do you know the correct time?"
Second Man: "Yes, it's quarter past three."
This is because everyone understands that, regardless of the words used, the implicit question is "What time is it?" but that is too blunt and forthright to be considered polite.
This is something that we need to get across to our students both so that they understand what they hear and read and so that they can formulate their own polite questions and answers. Let's look at that first example again.
"Surfaces may become slippery when wet." seems to be an absolutely trivial observation. It is easy to respond with that "well, duh" reaction but that is looking solely at the apparent surface meaning of the words. It's ignoring the fact that the words really mean "Take care! This surface is slippery." It is drawing your attention to something that, if you fail to notice it, can cause you harm. And I would argue that every native speaker would understand perfectly well what was meant.
Most students, by the time they can understand the literal meaning of such phrases have already grasped that polite variants rarely mean exactly what they say. They know that "I would like" isn't simply expressing a preference, it's the conventional polite form of "I want" or "Give me". They understand that answering "do you know the way to the post office" with "yes" will at the very least get a funny look and might get verbal abuse from the person asking.
Nevertheless, it's worth reminding them from time to time, perhaps by matching a set of polite phrases to actual meanings or by getting them to keep a record of any they come across and hen share them with the class.
The example was "Surfaces may become slippery when wet."
This is presented in the article as being humorous because the words, in their literal sense seem to evoke a "Well, duh!" response. But such phrases, that are not intended to be taken at face value, are perfectly commonplace. They are the kind of language that we encounter every day, and not just in the context of signs. Take this simple exchange.
First Man: "Excuse me, do you know the correct time?"
Second Man: "Yes, thank you, I have a very good watch."
As an answer to the question it's both perfectly logical and utterly incorrect. The problem is that the questioner has used a polite circumlocution that completely fails to ask the question he wants answered and the person answering him has answered the question asked, not the one intended.
Of course, it's a very unlikely conversation. Far more likely would be this exchange.
First Man: "Excuse me, do you know the correct time?"
Second Man: "Yes, it's quarter past three."
This is because everyone understands that, regardless of the words used, the implicit question is "What time is it?" but that is too blunt and forthright to be considered polite.
This is something that we need to get across to our students both so that they understand what they hear and read and so that they can formulate their own polite questions and answers. Let's look at that first example again.
"Surfaces may become slippery when wet." seems to be an absolutely trivial observation. It is easy to respond with that "well, duh" reaction but that is looking solely at the apparent surface meaning of the words. It's ignoring the fact that the words really mean "Take care! This surface is slippery." It is drawing your attention to something that, if you fail to notice it, can cause you harm. And I would argue that every native speaker would understand perfectly well what was meant.
Most students, by the time they can understand the literal meaning of such phrases have already grasped that polite variants rarely mean exactly what they say. They know that "I would like" isn't simply expressing a preference, it's the conventional polite form of "I want" or "Give me". They understand that answering "do you know the way to the post office" with "yes" will at the very least get a funny look and might get verbal abuse from the person asking.
Nevertheless, it's worth reminding them from time to time, perhaps by matching a set of polite phrases to actual meanings or by getting them to keep a record of any they come across and hen share them with the class.
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