This makes sense, and I think it helps my understanding a lot, but it feels importantly incomplete. What’s the meta-context you use to decide which context to use?
I can maybe guess at some of it.
You’re probably trying to get along with other people, so you look for ways their statements are true rather than false.
You probably want to save face, so you’ll avoid constructions that could reflect badly on you if quoted in a different context. (Is malicious quotation a huge problem in this society, or are there sufficient cultural antibodies against it? If the latter, what do these antibodies look like in practice?)
Are there more specific cultural rules for context-switching?
You’re probably trying to get along with other people, so you look for ways their statements are true rather than false.
This is the core idea. Most statements are imprecise. You have flexibility in how to interpret them. People tend to like you better when you interpret their words in a way that makes them true.
This makes sense, and I think it helps my understanding a lot, but it feels importantly incomplete. What’s the meta-context you use to decide which context to use?
I can maybe guess at some of it.
You’re probably trying to get along with other people, so you look for ways their statements are true rather than false.
You probably want to save face, so you’ll avoid constructions that could reflect badly on you if quoted in a different context. (Is malicious quotation a huge problem in this society, or are there sufficient cultural antibodies against it? If the latter, what do these antibodies look like in practice?)
Are there more specific cultural rules for context-switching?
This is the core idea. Most statements are imprecise. You have flexibility in how to interpret them. People tend to like you better when you interpret their words in a way that makes them true.