Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on July 10, 2008 at 08:37:54

In Reply to: RE: OK, but what of the rising inflection at the ends of sentences used by the same people? posted by halfnote on July 09, 2008 at 21:44:28

And the affirmation asked for usually isn't even waited for! They go on, and on, and...

Not long ago a fellow from these boards was striking up an acquaintance with me over the phone, from Korea, where the call was on his dime so I guess he thought that justified his doing most of the talking. Already I was somewhat exhausted by that, and by his constant "OK?... OK?" So every time he said it, I replied, "OK".

After several minutes of this he asked me, very agitatedly, "Why are you always saying 'OK'?"

Your analysis is spot-on, to which I add the proviso, illustrated in the above story, that the "group centric socialization" has become merely reflexive. Maybe that's why it's so annoying.

clark