Tag Archives: courtesy
Ethics of Persuasion: The Reciprocity Rule
I was walking down Granville Street the other day on my way to London Drugs when I spotted two Chinese monks ahead of me speaking to passersby. Ordinarily cautious of sidewalk solicitors, I let one of them engage me precisely … Continue reading
Language Log » Tiny grass is dreaming
Language Log » Tiny grass is dreaming. When I found this gem through @stevesilberman‘s Twitter feed, I knew I had to blog it. I could talk about this as a product of a higher context culture than ours, but … Continue reading
Keep Your Promises, Keep Your Confidences, and Keep Your Appointments
The prefix para means “beside” or “beyond.” Paralinguistic or paraverbal communication usually refers to *how* one’s words are conveyed: through tone, body language, speaking speed, or even through one’s wardrobe. In both workplace and social environments, though, beside and beyond … Continue reading
“We Agree”
“We agree much more than you think.” This was Niels Bohr‘s kind way of indicating profound disagreement with a colleague’s point of view. The genial physicist knew that the literal truth of that statement – after all, all scientists would … Continue reading
The Golden Rule
In most of my classes, when I am teaching email etiquette and protocol, I tell them the stories of Larissa #1 and Larissa #2. Larissa #1 was a student of mine in the early 1990s, when I was teaching in … Continue reading
