Flouting of Relation Maxim

mean something. Quality maxim is flouted by using 7 types of rhetorical devices: exaggeration, sarcasm, allusion, irony, ridicule, definition, and satire. 1 Exaggeration The characters flout quality maxim by using exaggeration. Exaggeration happens when the characters blow things up far beyond the reality of the situation. Exaggeration arises to be the most frequent on the data 17 times out of 42 since there are many cases when the characters are intentionally being dramatic over everything. Thus, exaggeration is reflected through their utterances. The characters who often flout quality maxim are Cam 6 times and Manny 5 times. Cam, by his nature, is a dramatic person who tends to react in hyper way over little thing. Meanwhile, Manny is a kid who has a poetic soul so his utterance is somehow poetic. The first example is Manny’s utterances. The characters are Claire and Manny. Manny visits Claire’s house to play with Luke. Instead of playing with Luke in the backyard, he walks into the dining room to meet Claire who is pulling some cookies out of the oven. Manny : Those cookies smell like heaven.Your own recipe? Claire : No, I just throw them in the oven. Manny : And added the secret ingredient of caring? 4244QlEx17 Smelling the sweet cookies, Manny flatters that the cookies’ smell is like heaven. He then asks Claire whether the cookies are her own recipe or not. Claire responds to Manny unwillingly by saying that she just throws them. Manny asks again that there must be a secret ingredient of caring on Claire’s cookies. Here, Manny flouts quality maxim twice by stating literally untrue statement on purpose. His utterances of Those cookies smell like heaven and added the secret ingredient of caring show exaggeration because he enhances the smell of the cookies and he continues being poetic in which he says that caring must be the ingredients of delicious cookies. Another example is uttered by Cam. The setting is at the toddler play class. Cam and Mitchel bring Lily to meet other babies. During the class, Mitchel warns Cam not to hyper-act. After some sections, there is a dance section class. It is a section where parents can dance with their babies. Cam is excited to show off his dance skill called ‘cam show’ where he slaps his own butt. Looking at Cam’s enthusiastic face, Mitchel re-warns him to dance like other parents. Cam is taking Lily in the center. He does a very stiff, awkward dance and then rejoins Mitchel. Mitchel : That was very good. Cam : I feel dirty . 72QlEx18 Mitchel is relieved because Cam does ‘normal’ dance. He compliments Cam who can tamp his ‘cam show’ things. Cam looks angrily at Mitchel and says that he feels dirty after the dance. Cam’s statement flouts quality maxim by saying exaggeration that he feels dirty. In this context, he feels guilty for doing such dance. He just shows exaggeration device by blowing things up. He feels dirty because he is doing normal dance just like anybody does. 2 Sarcasm The second device used by characters to flout quality maxim is sarcasm. Sarcasm appears 7 times. When characters flout quality maxim, they know their statement is not true, however, the characters do it deliberately. In the case of sarcasm, the characters are being offensive to another character in more hurtful way. Jay often employs sarcasm device which 6 times out of 7. By nature, Jay is a sarcastic person. He always has something offensive to say to other characters who have different personality, like Cam and Manny. Moreover, Jay is the father who is the oldest person in the family. So, he tends to create mockery the most. The first example of sarcasm device is uttered by Jay. Gloria, Manny, and Jay are in the car. Manny tells Gloria that he wants to declare his feeling to Brenda. Manny states his plan. Manny : I want to go to the mall where she works. But first we need to get my white shirt, the silk one. Gloria : Okay, if thats what you really want to do. Jay : Seriously, not to be the evil stepdad, but if you put on a puffy white shirt and declare your love for a 16 year old youre gonna be swinging from the flagpole in your puffy white underpants 15QlSa13 Manny plans to wear a silk white shirt when he states his love. He wants to be well-prepared. Gloria can only support him. Jay, who is also hearing him, does not think it is a good idea. He can just imagine how funny Manny is with the white tight shirt combined with his big physical appearance. Jay flouts quality maxim by using sarcasm. He mocks Manny by saying that Manny will be swinging from the flagpole in his puffy white underpants if he