EL4252:
Honours Year
Face
in domestic discourse – US: friends
A
husband a wife and having dinner with two adult guests — a woman (unnamed) and
a man named Charlie. The family dog,
Mercury, is sitting near the table. How much ‘face’ is shown to the four adults
(and to the dog — has the dog any ‘face’?)?
Wife: (1) Now you told me that this
was east.
Husband: (2) I never did. that’s
west.
Wife: (3) Yes you did.
Husband: (4) No I never.
Wife: (5) Last week
Husband: (6) [to guests] She has a terrible sense of
direction.
Wife: (7) I asked you whether the
trains went - ran north and south or east and west.
Husband: (8) Okay and what did I say.
Wife: (9) East west.
Husband: (10) right, very good.
Wife: (11) then I said I was trying to
figure out if [unclear] was right and then I asked you what direction
that was and we finally decided the sun comes up over here so this was east.
Husband: (12) No no no no
Wife: (13) Cos I - it’s
west and you said the sun comes up over here.
Husband: (14) No.
Wife: (15) Yeah, I remember that very
clearly.
Woman: (16) Hi Mercury dog. I eat all my crust. sorry.
Charlie ate his crust too.
Wife: (17) It was good crust.
Woman: (18) Er-huh.
Face in children’s discourse –
US: friends
Examine the
following interaction between four American boys (Lanny, Graham, Peter, and
Frank), who are playing with water around a sand box. Each child has an individual hose. Lanny and Frank are playing alongside each
other and are facing Peter and Graham. A
fifth child, Antoinette is on the far side of the sandbox positioned between
the two dyads.
Lanny: (1) Look what we made Graham. We made a real waterfall. Hey we made the best waterfall!
Frank: (2) Yeah.
Peter: (3) That’s not a waterfall.
Lanny: (4) Yes it is -
Peter: (5) Lanny’s isn’t. Lanny’s isn’t.
Lanny: (6) I did the - a waterfall right
Frank?
Frank: (7) Yeah.
Antoinette: (8) Frank’s is.
Lanny: (9) Yes, mine is, isn’t it Frank?
Frank: (10) It’s
mine.
Lanny: (11) It’s both of ours right?
Frank: (12) Right and we made it
ourselves.
Lanny: (13) Yeah.
Peter: (14) Graham, we’re not going to
be Frank’s and Lanny’s friend right?
Graham: (15) I am.
Frank: (16) I’m going to throw water at
you [ie Peter] if you don’t stop it, and tell
the teachers. and
then splash water on you again. [Both Peter and Graham laugh.]
An encounter with an acquaintance: filmscript
This is a short excerpt from
Bill Harcourt is a doctor in New York. He chanced upon Nick Nightingale
who was in medical school with him, but didn’t finish the course and became a
musician.
BILL walks down a street and happens
by the Café Sonata where NICK Nightingale mentioned he was playing. BILL stops
and looks in the window where he sees a photograph of NICK sitting at the
piano. BILL think for a moment then makes for the door, which is opened by a
doorman.
BILL (1)
Thank you.
BILL walks down the stairs of the
club. We hear live music as BILL is greeted by the MAÎTRE D’.
MAÎTRE
D’ (2)
Good evening, sir. Would you like a
table or would you like to sit at the bar?
BILL
(3)
I’d like a table.
MAÎTRE
D’ (4)
Please,
follow me. Can I take your coat?
As BILL is taken to his table we see his friend,
NICK, playing piano on stage with a jazz trio.
BILL
(to Maître d’) (5)
Thank you.
MAÎTRE
D’ (6)
Can I get you anything to drink?
BILL
(7)
I’d like a beer.
MAÎTRE
D’ (8)
Certainly.
BILL
watches the group as it finishes its final number. Then NICK quickly gets the
band into the fast closing theme to cover his introductions to the musicians
and his tanks to the audience.
NICK
(9)
Hope you enjoyed he music tonight.
We’re going to be here for the next two weeks. So, please, do stop by. I’m Nick
Nightingale. Good night.
NICK leaves the stage and walks
through the club.
VOICE FROM AUDIENCE (10)
Nick, that was great!
NICK
(11)
Oh, thanks.
BILL
(12)
Nightingale!
NICK
sees BILL and goes over to him.
NICK
(13)
Hey, Bill! You made it.
BILL
(14)
Yeah, listen, I’m sorry. I got here
just as you were finishing your last set.
NICK
(15)
That’s all right, the band sucked
tonight anyway.
The MAÎTRE D’ brings BILL his beer.
BILL
(to NICK) (16)
What are you drinking?
NICK
(17)
A vodka and tonic, please.
BILL
(18)
Thank you.
NICK
(19)
So what brings you out at this hour?
BILL (20)
I have a patient in the
neighbourhood.
NICK (21)
Do you live in the Village?
BILL
(22)
No, we have an apartment on
Central Park West.
NICK
(23)
Are you married?
BILL
(24)
Nine years.
NICK
(25)
Do you have any kids?
BILL
(26)
Yes, we have a seven-year-old
daughter. How about you?
NICK
(27)
I’ve got a wife and four boys
in Seattle.
BILL
(28)
You’re a long way from home.
NICK
(29)
Yeah, well, you’ve gotta go where the work is.
Consider
the interaction, recorded in the Houston
Chronical in terms of impoliteness:
Says tape captures incident
with Metro officer
By STEVE McVICKER
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Transcript
Officer Doug Carr of the Metropolitan Transit
Authority stopped Amanuel Hadis,
a Central Cab Co. driver originally from Ethiopia, at 9.05am Monday at a
downtown intersection. The following is a transcript of their conversation as
recorded by Hadis.
1 Carr: This your cab?
2 Hadis: Yes sir.
3 C: It says
here it’s expired. What else you got?
4 H: My
insurance is expired? I didn’t get change, but I think I left it at my house.
5 C: You
didn’t get it, or you left it at home?
6 H: I got it
. . .
7 C: Which
lie are you telling me?
8 H: I’m not lying sir, I’m just . . .
9C: Yes you
are. Ran red light, no insurance and not wearing a seat belt.
Sign right there. Court date’s on the top.
10 H: I did
not pass the red light. I was holding the brake.
11 C: Let me
tell you something, (expletive). You cross that white line out there, that’s
running the red light. You wanna argue with me or you
wanna go to jail?
12 H: No.
13 C: ‘Cause I’ll stick your . . . ass in jail right now, I don’t care. I don’t like
cab drivers in the first place. I will put you in jail. You pulled out in the
middle of the intersection. That’s running a red light, whether you backed up
or not. I don’t know what it’s like in your country, but in the United States
of America, in the state of Texas, we abide by all the laws. You don’t like it
here, leave, you got it?
14 H: Okay.
15 C: You
understand me?
16 H: Yes
sir.
17 C: Do we
understand real good English here?
18 H: Yes
sir. I’m sorry.
19 C: We
don’t need your kind here. You can go back to where you come from if you don’t
want to abide by our laws. You understand me?
20 H: Yes
sir.
21 C: Look at
my name. Remember it. Remember C-a-r-r. ‘Cause the
next time I find you on a city street in Houston, Texas, downtown, and you
(expletive) up and break the law, I will put your ass in jail. Do you
understand me?
22 H: Yes
sir.
23 C: I’m
speaking real straight, slow English.
24 H: All
right sir.
[Turn over for the news report]
A Houston cabdriver from Ethiopia
has filed a complaint with Metropolitan Transit Authority police, alleging that
he recorded a Metro officer cursing him repeatedly during a traffic stop and
telling him to ‘go back where you come from ....’
A copy of the audiotape obtained
by the Houston Chronicle appears to capture Officer Doug Carr
berating Central Cab Co. driver Amanuel Hadis during a tirade at a downtown intersection Monday
morning.
‘We don’t need your kind here,’ Carr tells Hadis, a naturalised
US citizen. ‘You can go back to where you come from if you don’t want to abide
by our laws. You understand me?’
While Carr
said Tuesday he had no comment about the incident, Metro Police Chief Tom
Lambert said his department’s professional standards section is investigating
the complaint.
‘This sergeant is talking to (Hadis), and we’ll get a statement from him,’ said Lambert.
‘We will investigate the complaint. We have very clearly defined standards and
expectations, and if our officer is outside of that expectation standard, we
will deal with that appropriately.’
Hadis,
who fled civil war-torn Ethiopia in 1990, says he wants Carr
fired. He says he now fears driving his cab downtown.
‘He can shoot me and kill me
anytime he wants,’ he said of Carr, a former
president of the Metro Police Association. ‘He can do anything he wants. I want
him to get fired. He doesn’t belong there. Most officers are nice people.’
Hadis’s
attorney [AmE = BrE
counsel, lawyer], Matt Hennessy, said he believes that – at the least – Metro
owes his client an apology.
The confrontation occurred just
after 9 am Monday, when Hadis stopped at Main and
Texas – an area in which Metro officers have stepped up enforcement of traffic
laws. The front wheels of Hadis’s cab apparently
touched or crossed the white lines of the pedestrian crossing, and Carr ordered him to pull over.
Hadis
said Carr instantly became abusive, yelling
profanities from his patrol car. Hadis said that
because he feared for his safety, he telephoned his voice mail and recorded the
ensuing exchange.
The recording begins with Carr calmly asking Hadis several
questions. When Hadis fails to provide proof of
current insurance, he tries to explain that he forgot to bring his new
insurance card with him.
At that point, Carr
appears to lose his temper and accuses Hadis of
lying. Hadis denies lying and protests that he did
not run a red light.
‘Let me tell you something,
(expletive),’ Carr says. ‘You cross that white line
out there, that’s running the red light. You want to argue with me or you want
to go to jail?’
Carr
again threatens Hadis with jail later in the
confrontation.
‘ ’Cause I’ll stick your stinking ass in jail right
now, I don’t care,’ Carr says. ‘I don’t like
cabdrivers in the first place. I will put you in jail. ... I don’t know what
it’s like in your country, but in the United States of America, in the state of
Texas, we abide by all the laws. You don’t like it here, leave, you got it?’
Before releasing Hadis with citations for running a red light, operating a
vehicle without insurance and failing to wear a seat belt, Carr
ensures the cabdriver will remember his name.
‘Look at my name,’ he says.
‘Remember it. Remember C-a-r-r. ‘Cause the next time
I find you on a city street in Houston, Texas, downtown and you (expletive)
break the law, I will put your ass in jail. Do you understand me?’
When reached by phone and asked
about the confrontation Tuesday, Carr replied, ‘What
about it?’
Told that the newspaper had a
recording of the exchange with Hadis, Carr said he had no comment and abruptly hung up.