a great question

[hitchhiker]

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/great-question-rebroadcast/

So, what exactly is saying “That’s a great question” meant to accomplish?

It’s for keeping the good vibes going. We’re friends here. You’re asking good questions, I’m giving good answers. It keeps a good feeling going. And things like “that’s a good question,” “look,” “the point is,” “what I’m saying is” — all of these phrases are meta-discourse phrases. They don’t have to do with the content of the discussion or the things that you’re talking about. They’re about the discussion itself. And what they do is lay out a map or a path for the people listening to the discussion or the people involved in the discussion. So you say, “Ah yes, the argument is, the point is.” And you can do that, lay out these little pebbles, when the discussion actually isn’t going that way, but you give the illusion that this is what’s happening. And when you’re actually in the discussion, you get the feeling that points are being made, and important things are being brought up and good questions are being asked even if they might not be.

Comments

[cjsmith]

Meta-discourse does so much work that goes largely unseen.

[hitchhiker]

it does! there should be some sort of school teaching on how to look out for it.

[amaebi]

I can't say that my point-outs have had any traction that I know of.

[cjsmith]

I suspect a lot of people don't want to think about it, which is mind-boggling to me. I find it fascinating.

[amaebi]

I think it really is hard for people to move up a level of abstraction. Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant was a bestseller and briefly much-touted, and now *poof*!

But also, some messengers are accredited and some discredited as worthy of being given a listen, and I am the latter.

[cjsmith]

I agree, and I too am the latter. You and I, we aren’t going to change the world. The world doesn’t care.

But I can at least be deliberate in trying to fight the indoctrination about whose messages deserve attention. I enjoy reading what you have to say. Maybe, some days, that can be enough.

[cjsmith]

Do you mean at the grade school level, instead of in social sciences where it is now? Yeah, that would be cool.