The Art of being Polite

Being polite was something I remember my parents instilling in me. Pleases and thank yous were just the beginning, as I got older my mother went on to further explain how to speak without offending others. Let alone did I know I would be taking a college class that took this one step further. Apparently Brown and Levinson (1967) developed a theory of positive face and negative face. Positive face is the want to be considered as a desirable human being, negative face is the want to not be imposed on by others. Politeness is the expression of the speakers intention to mitigate face threats carried by certain face threatening acts toward another. There are four types of politeness usage, bold on record, positive face, negative and indirect. Bold on record is normally used with people that know each other fairly well, they aren't worried about hurt the others feelings, they just use it as fact. For instance telling your roommate that it's their turn to mow the lawn and to do it is an example of bold on record.. Positive politeness is used to minimize the potential threat, for instance telling your roommate, 'hey I know you've been busy but could you try to mow the grass soon?'. Negative politeness is just the opposite. Instead of trying to abide by the politeness rules, your rude about it. For instance saying that you need to mow the grass and walking away will cause some problems. The final type is indirectly. Instead of asking the listener for a direct thing, you mention a statement that has implied meaning but literally doesn't ask someone to do something. For instance you would say 'wow the grass really needs to be mowed' in hope of them taking it upon themselves and complying.
By following this types of politeness, we can see the differences in levels of when to use them and when to use others. I would have never have considered the thought that professors had put standard to use politeness, my mother forgot to mention that.