This article centers around a delightfully nerdy episode from Crash Course Linguistics, hosted by the ever-expressive Taylor. The video in question is all about pragmatics—aka the fine art of reading between the lines, catching sarcasm without blinking, and realizing that “Can you close the window?” probably isn’t a question about arm strength.
If you’ve ever interpreted a passive-aggressive “Well, that’s a choice” as a glowing review (spoiler: it’s not), you’ve already dipped your toes into pragmatics. But this episode pulls it all together: Grice’s Maxims, sarcasm, politeness strategies, cultural variation in turn-taking—it’s all here and it’s glorious.
How to Hear What’s Not Being Said
If someone walks in dripping wet and you ask, “Is it raining?” and they reply, “Brilliant deduction,” you’re not going to take it as praise for your meteorological insight. That’s sarcasm. And recognizing it has less to do with dictionary definitions and more to do with understanding the situation around the words.
That’s the heart of pragmatics: how we use context, shared knowledge, and unspoken norms to figure out what people really mean. It’s why “Can you close the window?” isn’t taken as a weird quiz about your arm strength. It’s why “Nice going, Einstein” rarely means you did something smart.
Pragmatics is the difference between what’s said and what’s actually meant. And once you start noticing it, you’ll realize how much of everyday conversation is held together by things that aren’t said out loud at all.
Grice’s Maxims and the Cooperative Principle
Back in the 1970s, philosopher Paul Grice decided to explain why we usually manage to understand each other—even when we’re being vague, sarcastic, or weirdly indirect. He came up with a set of assumptions we tend to follow in conversation, which are now known as Grice’s Maxims. Basically, we assume people are trying to be helpful, not confusing.
- Quality: Say what you believe to be true. (Unless you’re being sarcastic. Then say the opposite and raise an eyebrow.)
- Quantity: Say enough to be useful, but don’t go full TED Talk when someone asks for the time.
- Relevance: Stay on topic. Unless going off-topic is the point. Which it sometimes is. (See: all group chats.)
- Manner: Be clear, be orderly, don’t mumble through five layers of implication unless you mean to.
These four maxims are wrapped up in something called the Cooperative Principle: the idea that people are generally trying to make a conversation work. And when they don’t follow these maxims? Our brains step in and try to figure out why—which is where all the juicy hidden meanings live.
Implicature: The Art of Hinting Without Saying
Let’s say you ask someone, “Want to grab lunch?” and they reply, “I’ve got a meeting.” Technically, they didn’t say no. But we both know that’s a no. Welcome to the world of implicature—the meaning tucked inside the gaps between what’s said and what’s actually meant.
It’s how we understand that “The subscribe button is right below” is more of a nudge than a geography lesson. It’s also how we know that “I don’t know, can you?” is less about grammar and more about passive-aggressively denying a cookie request.
Implicature is what makes human language feel so rich and flexible. We use it to be polite, sarcastic, evasive, clever, or downright sneaky—all without technically breaking any language rules. Computers hate this stuff. Humans eat it up.
Being Indirect Is Weirdly Polite
If you’re freezing in a room and want the window closed, you could say, “Close the window.” Or you could say, “Brr, it’s chilly in here,” and hope someone gets the hint. Most of us go with the second option—not because it’s clearer, but because it’s nicer.
Languages all over the world have clever tricks for being politely indirect. In English, we lean on phrases like “Would you mind…” or “Could you maybe…” In Malay, people soften commands with a tiny word like lah. In Mandarin, repeating a verb—like zuò zuò for “sit sit”—makes a demand feel more like an invitation. Even in sign language, things like raised eyebrows can make a request gentler.
The universal pattern? We bend over backwards to be considerate. We hedge, we soften, we imply. Because no one wants to be the jerk who barks orders when they could just hint like a civilized human being.
Turn-Taking Is a Cultural Minefield
Some people jump into conversations like it’s a group improv class. Others wait, pause, nod, and then gently speak when it’s clearly their turn. Neither style is wrong—they’re just different ends of the turn-taking spectrum.
Linguists call these styles high-involvement (lots of overlap, fast pacing, no fear of interruption) and high-considerateness (wait your turn, leave a little space, don’t talk over people). And yes, you can feel like someone’s being rude or awkward just because they’re using the “wrong” style for your expectations.
These patterns vary by language and region. Speakers of Japanese or Tzeltal tend to overlap more, while Lao and Danish speakers lean toward calm, quiet spacing. Even within English, New Yorkers often go full high-involvement, while Californians might leave a beat or two of polite silence.
The differences? Measurable in milliseconds. But the social impact? Huge. Your conversation style might be clashing and you won’t even know why—unless you’ve brushed up on your pragmatics.
It’s Not Just Words, It’s a Team Project
Having a conversation isn’t like sending off a fully baked idea to someone. It’s more like showing up with half the ingredients and figuring out the recipe together. You throw out some flour, they bring the eggs, and somewhere in the middle, meaning happens.
This is the beauty of pragmatics. It’s not about pristine grammar or perfect wording—it’s about cooperation. Whether we’re being sarcastic, polite, blunt, indirect, or accidentally hilarious, we’re constantly negotiating meaning through context, tone, and social cues.
Every conversation is a little co-produced performance. And just like no two people make the same carrot cake, no two conversations play out exactly alike. That’s what keeps language interesting—and what keeps pragmatics endlessly fascinating.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.