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Politeness and impoliteness
Task B - Our answer
Executing someone is as about as negatively impolite as you can get (unless
the person involved is an extreme masochist!). You clearly interfere dramatically
with their goals. This apparent promise is thus a threat heavily disguised
as a promise, which is where the humour comes from. The expression ‘never
fear’ is usually used when you are promising to do something the
other person wants to happen and is worried about it (e.g. I’ll
look after the cat while you are away, never fear’). This is what
makes the large imposition on the victim’s negative face in the
first line of the Princess Ida quotation look humorously like
an attempt at enhancing his negative positive face.
The second line, ‘Most politely, most politely’ appears to
assume that the promise to execute the victim is indeed a negative face
threat, and the repeated indication that the threat will be carried out
‘most politely’ looks like an attempt to enhance the victim’s
positive face (to give him ‘due deference’ even in the act
of killing him). Notice how much more interesting (fun?!) it is to hear
the lines W. S. Gilbert wrote rather than the direct, unvarnished expression
‘We will hang you’. Directness is a bit crude and boring conversationally,
and is rarely used, except in very extreme situations.
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