Words

In everyday life, doublespeak seems to be an expectation. When you meet strangers, your interactions are characterized by this, with words exchanged of "How are you doing?" and "The weather is nice," which don't really mean anything. Instead, they convey a message about the kind of person you are. They paint you as someone who is a good enough person to be kind to strangers, as someone that anyone can have a decent interaction with. This always seems to be the case with such language in relationships where the two people are either unfamiliar with each other or take on a professional connotation. When you form actual connections, such as those with friends and family, such expectations drop. This is expected, since close connections come with the expectation that you can say more of what you really mean without worrying about social niceties. After all, friends and family have stuck by you through hardship and are not as easily dismissed by not being greeted with proper politeness and small talk. In fact, I feel like the way you say what you don't mean switches, actually. In society, you say what you don't mean to be kinder. You're trying to portray yourself as more considerate than you normally would be. With people you've already formed close connections with, you don't have to build that reputation. You're not trying to put on an image of kindness and compassion because they already know about the natural versions of those qualities that you carry. In fact, I noticed that among my friendships and family, we say the opposite of what we mean in the form of insults and teasing. We say that we dislike each other and make fun of each other, but it's all words we don't mean. In a sense, it's that the idea of actually meaning such words is so ridiculous that saying them already creates a joke. Obviously, anyone can take this too far, where it becomes legitimate bullying rather than a form of friendship. However, I still found it interesting how different the words I don't mean are in these different contexts.