[ExI] You know what?

Mike Dougherty msd001 at gmail.com
Wed Jan 23 14:55:56 UTC 2008


On Jan 23, 2008 8:19 AM, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:
> In fact, it has a precise meaning, which can be expanded: "And have
> you considered, and can you imagine, what I am now going to tell you,

Along this vein, "you know what?" is a preamble used to alert the
receiver they should begin listening.  Part of this protocol requires
the receiver to provide confirmation/assurance the sender can begin.
(Eye contact may be sufficient, but a child might continue to pause
until the expected "no, what?" is supplied)

> With regard to "I could care less", as a non-native English speaker, I

The positive wording suggests (to me) - "I have negligible awareness
allocated to this topic, if you supply me with further details I will
begin to negatively weight my attention towards this topic"

I haven't observed "you know what" increase in frequency, but I have
become overtly aware of "you know" being abused in speech.  Typically
it is used when the speaker becomes aware they are failing to deliver
clear meaning.  Rather than try again, they appeal to the listener
with "you know" as both a directive (to gain an affirmative, "yes, I
understand") and a signal that the listener should take the
responsibility of continuing the conversation by restating the point
thus far.  Sometimes "you know" is simply a verbalization that the
speaker needs affirmation the listener is still paying attention,
other times it's a call for help.

My wife has a protocol where she uses either "No, wait" or "OK,
listen" to indicate that our asynchronous chatter should cease and she
is establishing a synchronous dialog.  The expected response is
silence.  Even if I acknowledge with "OK, listening" she'll restart
the protocol with "No, wait."  It becomes comical if I continue to
exploit the pattern.



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