"I'm a huge fan" -- the implicature

Speranza



There is a lot of material of visual -- cartoon strips, etc. -- dealing with implicature, and, specifically, CONVERSATIONAL IMPLICATURE.

We could start with this.

Note that Grice considers this:

'bank' versus 'bank'.

-- or as he preferred, 'vice' versus 'vice' ('He was caught in the grip of a vice') -- this is a different case.

In this case, the point seems to be that if 'fan' is meant as the machine, then the president should realise, but just LOOKING, that what he has in front of him is a 'big' or huge fan.

Whereas the 'standard' intepretation is that 'realising you have a huge fan' in front of you cannot be 'tested' evidentially, and so the statement, or avowal, "I'm a huge fan" (+> admirer), gets a point.

In other words, it's in the otiosity of "I'm a huge fan" (with fan =/= admirer) where the Griceian punch line humour resides.

Cfr. Attardo.

----- Attardo, GRICE AND HUMOUR.