Sartre, La Nausee, and Grice

J wrote:

"Borges was a medical student, I believe".

I'm glad he never operated on me, I replied. Indeed.

I added, 'indeed', emphatically.

J commented:

"Indeed, overuse of the word "indeed" may indeed become rather nauseating indeed."

I think 'indeed' is a Brisihism. I never heard a Newyorrican, like Dr. Sotomayor, using it.

"Indeed" derives from "in" + deed. Strictly, it should apply to 'deeds'. E.g. "The cavalier saved the damsel in distress". "Indeed", you comment.

But it has been used generally, to cover things which are NOT deeds. Eg. 'rain'.

"Wow. It's raining dogs and cats". "Indeed".

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And it can be used even for things which are even vaguer in semantic form.

"Piss off!"
"Indeed".

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Possibly, the first person who used 'indeed' -- and joined them in just one adverb -- was a clever one. Possibly not, though.

As an emphatic, 'indeed' FLOUTS Grice's maxim, 'be brief', and 'don't overdo it -- don't be overinformative or stuff'.

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VALIDATED USES OF 'indeed':

--- A: She is not a virgin.
--- B: Indeed. She is NOT.


In this case, you have to add, 'she is not', because such confirmation, out of the blue, seems strange. It's most likely that someone may oppose such 'refudiation'.

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A: Are you a virgin?
B: Indeed I am.

This seems a validated usage, although the implicature seems to be, "What d'you think?".

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There may be other uses which while I consider validated J does not.