The example that came to mind for me was, “″Sup?” which I used to hate with a passion, but I later parsed into a fairly complex, ritualistic phrase somewhere in the range of:
“Non-specific greetings to you. If we are both continuing on our paths, I expect similar non-specific greetings in return and indicate a slight preference toward the revelation of any bite-size knowledge you feel is important regarding your current activities or news that you feel I would be particularly interested in.
“If either one of us approached the other and stopped, this indicates anticipation of a slightly longer exchange, and I am querying the reasons for your approach or I am using a handshake protocol to determine if you have the current time-capacity and willingness to engage in a topic I consider interesting or important but for various reasons I do not wish to state outright, though with an equal potential that I am just bored and seeking non-specific social interaction.”
Yes, this reminds me of when I finally grasped the usefulness of social protocols. I thought they were terribly stupid wastes of time when I was younger (say, till about age 22). Of course by then I learned what wonderful things network protocols were. Then I read a paper regarding Japanese culture that compared social protocols to network protocols, indicating that they were useful in much the same way. “The scales fell from my eyes” and I felt very stupid for not making the connection before.
I can’t seem to find it online. I have a vague recollection it might have been from the proceedings of ETHICOMP2007 in Tokyo—I’ll check when I get a chance.
The example that came to mind for me was, “″Sup?” which I used to hate with a passion, but I later parsed into a fairly complex, ritualistic phrase somewhere in the range of:
“Non-specific greetings to you. If we are both continuing on our paths, I expect similar non-specific greetings in return and indicate a slight preference toward the revelation of any bite-size knowledge you feel is important regarding your current activities or news that you feel I would be particularly interested in.
“If either one of us approached the other and stopped, this indicates anticipation of a slightly longer exchange, and I am querying the reasons for your approach or I am using a handshake protocol to determine if you have the current time-capacity and willingness to engage in a topic I consider interesting or important but for various reasons I do not wish to state outright, though with an equal potential that I am just bored and seeking non-specific social interaction.”
Yes, this reminds me of when I finally grasped the usefulness of social protocols. I thought they were terribly stupid wastes of time when I was younger (say, till about age 22). Of course by then I learned what wonderful things network protocols were. Then I read a paper regarding Japanese culture that compared social protocols to network protocols, indicating that they were useful in much the same way. “The scales fell from my eyes” and I felt very stupid for not making the connection before.
I failed to find such paper in google, and i would really like to read it. Maybe some more helpfull hints about it? Or possibly a link?
I can’t seem to find it online. I have a vague recollection it might have been from the proceedings of ETHICOMP2007 in Tokyo—I’ll check when I get a chance.