H. P. Grice, "An Englishman in New York"

"In response to my previous lecture, I was given in
informal discussion"

--- this is something academics are aware of. When
I published my first publication, I was given
the permission to add "proceeding" of informal
discussion following, which I did: it's usually
the fun bit of a presentation. Nowadays, lecturers
just ignore the audience, cash and leave in the
next train to where they belong to.

Grice continues, and it's sad he does not credit
the person who made the discussion. Perhaps it
was not AFTER the conference, in alotted time, etc.

"an example which SEEMED to me, as far as it went,
to provide a WELCOME"

-- so not so good as informal discussion. Discussants are supposed to
_criticise_, challenge, and find counterexamples.

"kind of support for the picture I have
been presenting in that it appeared
to exhibit a kind of interaction between
the members of my list of maxims which


I HAD NOT FORSEEN."

"Suppose that it is generally known that
New York and Boston [where the lectures took
place, almost -- in Harvard --one wonders
if he stayed in Boston, as I hope he did,
at the Athenaeum, rather than boring
Cambridge, Mass.] were blacked out
last night. And A asks B"

Did C see "Star Trek" last night?

[Grice was called "Trekkie" because he woudn't miss an episode]

"It will be

CONVERSATIONALLY unOBJECTIONABLE

for B, who knows that C was in New York, to reply


"No, he was in a blacked-out city".

"B could have said that C was in New York,
thereby providing a further piece of
information, BUT

in preferring the phrase

'a blacked-out city'

he was implicating (by the maxim
prescribing relevance) a more
appropriate piece of information,
namely, _why_ C was prevented
from seeing "Star Trek""

Here is the 'waste not, want not -- motto old and true' in full blown.
Grice continues:

"He cold have provided BOTH pieces of
information by saying"

"He was in New York, which was blacked-out"

"but THE ***GAIN**** would have been **INSUFFICIENT**
to **JUSTIFY** the additional conversational **COST**."
(WoW:42).