Some Puzzles of Politeness and Impoliteness Within a Formal Semantics of Offensive Language - Conflict and Multimodal Communication: Social Research and Machine Intelligence - page 218

or impoliteness inherently in their meaning (Watts 2003 ). Others have argued that
(im)politeness is inherent in the meaning of some forms of language (Culpeper
2011 , p. 118). That an expression is ambiguous or conveys layers of meaning is not
sufficient to dismiss the importance of semantics in the interpretation of (im)polite
language, just as semantic theory provides critical illumination of the interpretation
of metaphorical language (see Van Genabith 2001 ; Vogel 2001 ).

12.2.2 Excess

For example, although politeness is a positive behavior by default, excessive
politeness, obsequiousness, is not esteemed (see ( 12.1 )) 5 ; thus, politeness is not
monotonically additive.

(1) Please, allow me to most humbly and with supreme deference offer to your
superlatively splendid self the information that the time is 12:30.

12.2.3 Circular Spectrum

It has been noted that in some contexts, language that might otherwise be understood
as rude is actually part of the normal code for interaction (Bousfield 2008 ), and is
therefore less reasonable to understand as impolite. Additionally, in some of the
contexts that include interactants who are exceedingly familiar (such as family), it
can be deemed impolite to use the language of politeness: an example like ( 12.2 . a ),
in contrast to ( 12.2 . b ), may well be less appropriate for communication with one's
parents than for a colleague or client.

(2) a. Please, let me know what time you'd like me to arrive.

b. Let me know what time you'd like me to arrive.

Note that this is distinct from the possibility of mock (im)politeness, in which an
ironic interpretation is forced. Rather, the same utterance, without ironic intent, may
obtain a politeness-polarity switch depending on the context. Therefore, while it is
natural to think of a mono-dimensional scale between politeness and impoliteness,
it is worth considering whether a more appropriate conceptualization is not a
spectrum, but a color wheel. 6

5 Conversely, impoliteness, when used as a tool of iconoclasm, may earn esteem (Van Kleef et al.
2011 ), in the sense that comics like Groucho Marx are appreciated. This may be connected to the
macabre attraction that disgust triggers have: as pointed out by others (Kolnai 1929a ), the oral-
facial expulsion reflex on the verge of vomiting in response to a disgust trigger proceeds as if the
substance had been ingested, even if it has not—the disgust response requires imagining contact.
6 Perhaps a color spindle is a more appropriate conceptualization (cf. Gärdenfors 2000 ).